


Philautia

by Jeiidaan, rynoa29



Category: Ao no Exorcist | Blue Exorcist
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, But we'll get there, Demon/Human Relationships, Friends to Lovers, It'll probably take a bit, M/M, Rating May Change, Renzou and Yamantaka's relationship is very different from canon, Slow Burn, but it's mature for now due to future planned scenes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:41:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 28,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28070337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jeiidaan/pseuds/Jeiidaan, https://archiveofourown.org/users/rynoa29/pseuds/rynoa29
Summary: Some kids had imaginary friends, someone invisible that they could tell anything to, play anything with, and confide in, knowing that their feelings would never be hurt. Some kids had best friends, someone who was always there, someone to hold them tight and be held in return, someone to share experiences with, to learn with, to develop with. Some kids had sibling bonds, friends who had been there since the beginning and would always be there, someone who, no matter how different they were, would always love them, would always stand by them, and would always care for them.Some kids had friends. Renzou had Yamantaka.
Relationships: Shima Renzou/Yamantaka
Comments: 24
Kudos: 40





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Ahh, we just can't get enough. Welcome to a new story! Now that Three's A Crowd is done, this story will be replacing our Wednesday updates when we return in January. For now, please enjoy this first chapter and have a Happy Holidays!

Renzou was not what one would call a happy child. At seven-years-old, he already felt a weight on his shoulders that had his knees buckling as he dragged his feet forward. Being born in a family that treasured tradition and discipline more than anything else meant that there were expectations he was forced to adhere to—expectations that none of the other kids at school had to deal with; that not even his closest friends could understand, not like he did.

How could they, anyway? Konekomaru, despite being almost like a brother to him, was an orphan who wanted nothing more than to please the adults around them in an attempt to show how grateful he was for taking care of him. Ryuuji, on the other hand, having been born as the son of the Head Priest of the Myou Dha, had filled his own head with self-importance despite the fact that his dad often tried to cover his eyes and ears away from the responsibilities that came with his birthright.

Renzou wished he had that sort of freedom. Despite the fact that he considered his friends crazy for embracing these paths, at least they both had the choice to head into them. Renzou didn’t. As far as he could remember, his family had drilled into him that his number one purpose in life was to serve and protect the Head Priest’s son. As a member of the Shima household, it was his duty to stand by Ryuuji’s side and support him. 

That mantra colored the majority of his interactions with his family. When his brothers picked him up from school, they asked about how Ryuuji’s day had been. When it was time to have dinner, his dad talked about his future training. When he was roaming the halls of their temple, all he could hear was people murmuring about the decaying state of their organization, and about what they needed to do to get back on their feet.

It was suffocating. And when it really got to be too much, Renzou couldn’t help but to run away.

He liked to sneak into the forest that surrounded their temple, in early mornings when they didn’t have to go to school, or in lazy afternoons in the weekend when no one was looking for him. Sometimes, he even snuck off to avoid his chores despite knowing he’d have to endure a harsh scolding in return—it would be a thirty-minute lecture about being diligent, disciplined, obedient. It wasn’t always worth it, knowing he’d have to put up with that, but there were days that Renzou felt far too pent up, emotions he could not quite name bubbling at the surface of his skin.

He hated it. Renzou often spiraled, getting far too deep into his own head as he thought of the unending weight that had been placed upon him, of his dad’s stern voice, of his friends’ steadfast attitudes. It all made him feel incredibly lonely. It made him feel wrong, knowing that he was the only one among them that felt this way. 

It all became too much to bear. The ache that spread in his chest had him curling his shoulders in, had him holding on to himself, had his eyes stinging, then watering. Renzou bit his lip hard, but the small, hiccupping sob escaped him anyway, and his frustration and unhappiness only grew with the sound. He rubbed his eyes roughly and tried to hold his breath but it all burst out anyway.

 _I hate this, I hate this, I hate this…!_ he thought.

And there, oftentimes when he was at his lowest, the feeling that he wasn’t alone creeped into him.

**_‘You are crying.’_ **

A voice in his mind stated plainly. Yamantaka, the demon that had been apparently bound to him since he was a baby, didn’t always talk to him. The demon seemed to lack any kind of response. More often than not, he would reply with merely a feeling, or an acknowledgement of his presence.

It seemed that this time, though, Renzou’s tears were worthy of his words.

It was enough to startle him to a stop, though he was trembling like a leaf as he held himself back, trying to form words past the clouded feeling of misery he was drowning in.

 _W-What do **you** want?_ Renzou thought. He was nervous and curious at once to speak to the taciturn demon. Shame filled him too, to have someone witness this moment of weakness from him. Even though he knew, logically, that Yamantaka was always present, Renzou never cried in front of anyone else.

A small thread of confusion found its way through their connection. Yamantaka didn’t share Renzou’s reservations.

 ** _‘Why are you crying?’_** The voice held a tone of curiosity.

Renzou flinched at the question, at the sheer acknowledgment of the act. He held himself together even tighter, but though he managed, for the most part, to stop shaking, the tears flowing from his eyes continued to fall down his face.

 _It doesn't matter,_ he thought, bitterness weighing down the words. 

**_‘You are lying.’_**

Renzou’s breath hitched. The absolute veracity behind the demon's blunt words caused a burst of emotion in his chest. His efforts to hold back the wretched feelings consuming him crumbled and another hiccupping sob escaped him, even as he bit down on his lip hard to prevent it. 

_It's stupid._ He was telling himself that more than answering the demon. Feeling the tears in his eyes burst with even more intensity, Renzou buried his face into his knees. _I just want it to stop…! I hate this! Hate, hate, hate feeling like this! I hate them!_

The silence from the demon was strangely full. The emotion that Renzou tried to keep from exploding out of his heart instead touched the demon’s consciousness. He could feel Yamantaka react to it, his curiosity steadily growing. 

**_‘If you hate it,’_** he began, his voice softer than before as if in response to the overwhelming emotions. Still, the tone was just as straightforward. **_‘Then ignore it or make it stop.’_**

 _As if I could._ Renzou shook his head, the motion causing his face to rub against the knees of his shorts. _You think I want to feel like this?!_ Helpless, alone, unheard, invisible. No one ever listened to his complaints, no one ever cared when he was upset. His feelings never mattered to anyone. How was he supposed to feel anything but wretched? As much as he shoved it all down and ignored it, it all eventually spilled out. 

And all those feelings poured into their connection. Yamantaka suddenly felt Renzou’s suffering acutely and, though he couldn’t fully understand it, he knew his host was in great pain. The feeling of helplessness shuddered through his tiny body with every sob and Yamantaka desired to eliminate it.

**_‘... I see. You desire comfort. Summon me.’_ **

The request was unexpected and almost incomprehensible. “Huh?”

There was an insistent feeling nudging at him, and Renzou felt somewhat resistant to it. It was distracting enough to ebb his crying. “W-Why…?” he mumbled.

The question confused Yamantaka in such a way that the feeling paused for a moment.

**_‘So that I may comfort you...?’_ **

It was a baffling statement. Renzou hiccupped as he lifted his head, eyebrows knitting together towards the middle of his forehead as he stared blankly ahead into the vast, endless forest. His growing confusion mingled with Yamantaka’s own. “Why…?” he asked again, his voice soft, though a little less tremulous.

There was a slight impatient irritation that colored the confusion this time, as if Yamantaka found the questioning a bit useless.

 ** _‘Summon me,’_** he demanded now, nudging more through their connection.

Hesitantly, not quite sure why he was going through with this, Renzou did. Surprisingly, it took him less effort that usual. Perhaps it was because his dad wasn’t around to pressure him into it. Perhaps it was because he actually wanted to, driven by his vulnerability and curiosity.

Yamantaka materialized before him. The glowing amber rings shone through the eye sockets of the skull suspended in the black flames. The demon leaned down, the hot fire warming the air around them as he reached out his hands, taking Renzou’s face in his hold. 

Though he didn’t have the strength to summon Yamantaka for long periods of time, he knew the demon’s power and how vicious he could be. The hands on his cheeks, the way they heated his skin, felt foreign. Yamantaka’s thumb pressed against his skin, drying his face from the tears with an intense concentration, as if it took effort for the demon to be this gentle.

 ** _“There.”_** The voice sounded deep, echoing in his chest. **_“Do not cry any longer.”_**

Something about those words, about the intensity behind them, had Renzou's tears stilling. They sat at the bottom of his eyelids as he let out a shaky breath. Perhaps it was the shock of being held so delicately by a being who could easily destroy him. But... it felt like it was something more than just that. There was a feeling in his chest that didn't seem like his own. He didn't understand it. It was hard to decipher it, much less focus on how miserable he'd been just moments ago when he felt so... warm.

"Why...?" The question slipped from his lips again. _Why are you being nice to me?_

Yamantaka tilted his head curiously, truly not understanding the question. Still, he answered it.

 ** _“Because you wanted comfort, did you not?”_** the demon said, leaning his head down until the skull was level with the child’s face.

Renzou was struck by the simple answer. He _had_ wanted comfort, comfort that he knew he would not receive from anyone. Certainly not from his dad, who often told him to act like a proper man of the Shima family whenever he heard Renzou whining. It was why he had run away in the first place. He had not wanted to hear anything like that, not when he'd been so close to coming apart at the seams in public. That would have made everything worse. 

"But... why do you _care_?" That was what Renzou didn't understand. He stared into Yamantaka's striking eyes, trying to decipher his intentions. The gold rings held his attention. They stared at him so deeply, making him feel bare, making him feel seen. It was overwhelming.

 ** _“Because I chose you.”_** Yamantaka stared back at him, the skull remaining still as he spoke. **_“You are mine and I am yours until the day you take your last breath. Such is the nature of our bond. You are important to me. Do not reject me.”_**

Important… The tears he’d been holding at bay fell without prompting. Just a brief cascade that ran down from the brim of his eyes, down the small length of his cheeks. A part of him wanted to scoff at the words, a knee-jerk reaction he couldn’t resist given his circumstances. 

But it was impossible not to believe his familiar. He could taste the truth of his words coating his own tongue. 

**_“Why do you cry again?”_** Yamantaka’s head tilted as his fingers moved to catch the tears, brushing them away and drying his face once more. **_“Does this upset you?”_**

“N-No…” But his breath hitched again as he was swept up by the motion of those gentle fingers wiping his tears. How was it possible to feel so small within the demon’s grasp, yet far from insignificant at the same time? The steadfast attention that was being given to him made him feel as if he was something precious. “No,” he said again. There was a bit of awe in his voice. 

_Do you really mean it?_ he thought. 

Even before the demon spoke, Renzou felt the answer with such powerful honesty that it made his breath tremble.

**_“I do.”_ **

Oh. 

Renzou lifted his hands, slowly at first, but the last few inches before his skin graced the surface of the demon's hands felt magnetic. As he stared into those golden eyes, which were so very focused on him as if there was nothing more important in the world, Renzou’s lips twitched into a small, shy smile. 

“Thank you…” he whispered. 

A powerful emotion moved in his chest, a tendril of happiness, of acceptance, mixed in a whirlwind of warmth. The lonely feeling that had crept up on him was swept away by it and he felt profoundly at peace then. Selfishly, he wanted nothing more than to bask in the feeling. Even as his energy began to dwindle, as he recognized that his body was about to give out on him for summoning Yamantaka for longer than he could handle, Renzou couldn’t help but to wish time could freeze so he could stay there, safely within the confines of his familiar’s comforting hold.

_D… Don’t go…_

As Renzou’s eyes fluttered shut, as his fingers twitched weakly in an attempt to hold on to Yamantaka’s large fingers, the thought rang through him. 

**_“I am not going anywhere, Shima Renzou.”_** Yamantaka’s voice permeated through his mind, filling him up completely. The large hands pressed deeper into his skin. **_“I will never leave your side.”_**

Those words were the last thing he heard before the feeling of Yamantaka’s hands left his skin. He didn’t even have the time to feel loss as Renzou fell limp in the grass, passed out alone in the middle of the forest. 

And yet, not really alone.


	2. Chapter 2

_Ahh... When are we getting out of here?_

Renzou's knee bounced underneath his desk. He was staring at the numbers his teacher was writing on the board with a blank look in his eyes as he rested his chin on the palm of one hand, and rocked his mechanical pencil back and forth between the fingers of his other one. The movement was idle and absentminded, yet it was the only source of stimulation that was keeping him awake. 

He hadn't slept very well. Kinzou's snoring had been particularly aggravating last night, and Renzou had already been having a hard time falling asleep before that due to the growing chill in the air. Even now, Renzou was still bothered by the temperature. The hand-me-down sweater he was wearing was keeping him warm, but just barely. He just wanted to go home and head back to bed already, maybe ask for a warm drink beforehand. Maybe Ryuuji's mom would be inclined to let the three of them curl up underneath the kotatsu... It was an achievable goal, but the obstacle preceding it was the mountain of homework that awaited him. 

_Ugh._

As if he was suitably distracted, a diversion presented itself in the small, unmistakable prodding of the connection he shared between him and his familiar. 

**_‘These conditions are unfavorable,’_** the demon’s voice remarked candidly.

 _You're telling me._ Renzou let out an inaudible sigh, but the corner of his lips twitched up slightly. Lately, Yamantaka had been talking to him a lot more often. The first few times it happened had caught him by surprise, and their conversations didn't usually last all that long, but since that day in the forest, his familiar's consciousness felt ever-present, like a blanket wrapped around his shoulders. 

It was nice.

 _I wanna go home already_ , he whined through their mental link. 

**_‘You have faked sick before. Simply do so again. Then you may return home.’_** Yamantaka spoke with a matter-of-factly tone, as if the solution were obvious.

 _If I do it too often, then they’ll stop taking me seriously_ , Renzou countered. It wasn’t a bad idea honestly, but it hadn’t been that long ago that he’d tried to get out of class like that. His lip jutted out a bit in longing. 

**_‘Hm.’_** Yamantaka took the situation rather seriously. Renzou could feel the genuine deliberation coming through the connection. **_‘How much is too often?’_**

 _Well, it depends what I cycle through._ Renzou answered just as seriously, easily becoming engaged in the topic. _It's hard to pretend to have a cold, but if I say I've got a bad headache, or a stomachache, they won't be able to prove that I'm lying. But if I pretend to have a stomachache every day, they'll end up sending me to a doctor for real to find out what's wrong, which will be a pain to deal with. Even just doing it once a week will get people suspicious after a while._

 ** _‘I see. Headaches also fall under this category.’_** Then a small touch of confusion colored the previous understanding. **_‘Bon has headaches often, and yet he is taken seriously.’_**

 _That's... different._ The smile on Renzou's face faded. _He's got the real thing. He doesn't do it to get out of class, like me._

Though, even if Renzou did have the real thing, he had a feeling he'd be told to try to just ignore it and work through it. 

Yamantaka caught on to that feeling, though whether he understood it or not was a mystery.

 ** _‘Then if lying will not work, we simply leave,’_** he said instead. **_‘Your time can be used more productively elsewhere.’_**

Renzou blinked. _Just like that?_ He was hit by a flash of unexpected amusement at the proposition. _I can't just leave, silly. That'll get me in trouble too. There's no way they won't notice me going missing, yanno._

 ** _‘All your father will do is talk. Do as you are doing now and decide not to listen.’_** Once again, Yamantaka’s tone was simple, as if he were stating fact.

And it really was as simple as that, wasn’t it? 

The smile crept back on Renzou’s face. 

_Heh. Guess you’ve got a point._ He pulled his eyes away from the board and discreetly glanced over at the door. Could he really just leave? It would be impossible to sneak off without his classmates tattle-telling on him. But he could ask to go to the restroom and then… not come back. 

_I can’t believe I’m really gonna do this…_ He felt incredibly giddy about it. 

**_‘Your plan is sound.’_** Yamantaka’s encouragement flooded through their link, almost like someone was nudging him forward.

It gave him the confidence he needed to follow through with his plan. One moment, Renzou was raising his hand, bearing through the uncomfortable pressure that came with interrupting his teacher mid-lecture; in the next, he was sneaking out of the building, doing his best to keep an eye out for any adult who might catch him in the act. Luckily, the hallways were empty. It was nowhere near time for the next class to begin yet, so the chances he would run into a teacher were low. His plan was going incredibly smoothly—so it shouldn’t have surprised him when he encountered an obstacle when he was almost scot-free.

The gate at the front entrance was closed. There was no way he was going to be able to get that open.

_Aww, man…_

**_‘Just jump over it.’_ **

_I can’t jump over it!_ Renzou protested immediately. _It’s way too tall!_

**_‘With my power, you can. Draw upon my strength.’_ **

Renzou stared at the gate dubiously. _Can I really make it…?_ The insistent feeling nudging at his consciousness, combined with his paranoia that someone was going to see him lingering out here, had him approaching the gate in soft, hurried steps. But as he stood in front of it, he only felt more doubtful of this plan. _There’s no way I can jump this!_

 ** _‘You can.’_** Yamantaka’s voice was strong in his mind, almost unrelenting as the demon’s confidence flowed freely through their link. 

The majority of Renzou’s doubts were swept up by it. He straightened up and stood tall as he glanced up at the gate. Though a part of him still felt unsure, he couldn’t help but to trust Yamantaka’s words.

 _Alright then._ He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and reached into the power that rested beneath his skin. 

As if all he had to do was request it, Yamantaka provided it. It almost felt as though he was summoning him, though it wasn’t nearly as draining. It was empowering. The strength that came natural to the black flamed demon spread through him like a wave of heat. The chill in the air no longer felt uncomfortable, and more than that, he knew then that Yamantaka was right. Somehow he knew that he _could_ jump it. So he did.

He took a small running start. A rush of adrenaline filled him as he pushed off from his feet. A moment of rushing weightlessness lifted him and then he was over the wall, just like that. Freedom. Renzou landed all too lightly on his feet, feeling like the stray cats Konekomaru loved to feed. His eyes opened wide and his lips stretched even wider as he stood up tall and looked back at the wall encircling the school. How had that been so easy? He’d never thought he could do anything like this. He stared down at his hands, awed, buzzing still with the powerful energy that his familiar was filling him with. 

_That was **awesome**! _Renzou let out a small, giddy laugh.

The unmistakable swell of pride that surged from the demon was hard to miss. 

**_‘My power is your power. Use it as you will and do as you please.’_** Yamantaka’s voice was colored with that happiness, as if he were feeling Renzou’s emotions as well. 

They were so deeply intertwined, especially at that moment, their feelings looping into each other, that it had Renzou's chest bubbling. Their joint thrill that had him almost vibrating out of his own skin. 

It felt as if the world itself had opened up before him. He wanted to run wildly, wanted to see just how far he could jump, how much more he was capable of. He ran down the street, towards the mountain path. Renzou stared up ahead at the walk-beaten path that led back home and his eyes slid over to the left instead, to the vast forest that stretched beyond what he could possibly imagine. There were nooks and crannies that he often passed over, glancing at curiously, but never exploring, cautiously avoiding putting himself in danger. The apprehension of having to need someone to rescue him, of needing to deal with his brothers teasing him or reprimanding him, had kept him at bay before.

But he wasn’t alone, and he was far from helpless.

One last wordless encouragement from Yamantaka, like a nudge at his back, was all he needed to run off to the tree line. 

It was like he was a whole new person. The caution he held before was near nonexistent. He jumped up to high branches, climbed large rocks, pushed aside heavy logs as if they were nothing but a stick across his path. He was light. He was powerful. He was unstoppable. The rush of adrenaline just didn’t stop and he was riding cloud nine for ages. 

**_‘You are enjoying this,’_** Yamantaka remarked, the pride still present in his tone.

 _Hell yeah I am!_ Renzou grinned toothily and unrestrained. It was a rare look on his face. _This is the best!_ He was talking, not only about how incredible it felt to be able to push past his normal limits, but also what that allowed him. Being this high up was a thrill, yes, but it was a wonder too. As he stood on the tallest branch of what had to be one of the tallest trees around, Renzou breathed in the crisp air, filling his lungs with it as he looked around him with a sparkle in his eye. The sky seemed bluer somehow. His neck turned slowly as he followed the movement of a bird flying close by, ensnared by the keen sense of kinship he suddenly felt with it.

 ** _‘Good. The more you use my power, the more experienced you will become, and the more you will be able to do. However, you are still young. We have only just begun to know each other and your stamina is still lacking. Do not push too hard.’_** The pride had not lightened in the least. Instead, what came with it, was a genuine warning. 

And in all honesty, though Renzou’s initial reaction was to wave off the warning, all too hungry for the taste of freedom he’d been given, he found himself actually listening. 

No one had ever said anything like that to him. It was always: _‘Get up, Renzou!’; ‘You can do better than that!’; ‘Try harder!’; ‘Keep at it!’_. His family’s harsh encouragement always left him feeling drained and clenching his jaw as he pushed himself beyond what he was capable. 

It was nice, hearing someone telling him to take it easy for once.

 _Gotcha. I’ll try not to overdo it_ , he told his familiar, pressing his lips together to hide the smile threatening to surface. It was an unnecessary endeavor, given that Yamantaka could feel how happy he felt right now. _How much more do you think we can do this for?_ Renzou didn’t feel tired yet, and he wasn’t sure how much of it was due to the fact that he hadn’t summoned Yamantaka’s natural form into existence, and how much of it was due to the fact that he was too hyped up to feel anything else.

 ** _‘Given your current mental and physical state, perhaps twenty more minutes. I am not sure. You have never done this, so it’s only an estimation.’_** Yamantaka spoke frankly. 

Twenty more minutes... Thinking of the time made Renzou think about how long he'd been gone from class. For sure, by now, Ryuuji and Konekomaru had noticed his absence, not to mention their teachers. He wondered if they'd called his family yet and if anyone was out looking for him. Would they search for him outside of the school? Should he sneak back in towards the end of the day and pretend he had been hiding in there all along?

It was too much of a pain to think about, so Renzou decided that was a problem for later. He wanted to enjoy these last twenty minutes to their full extent. It did feel like a smart idea to stay off the ground though. No one would think of looking this high up for him. So with that thought in mind, Renzou continued his adventurous trek, balancing himself fearlessly as he walked across thick branches, jumping from one tree over to the next. Each confident landing made him even more daring. 

So of course, it was a given that he had to stumble at some point. He had never had the uncanny luck that his brother Kinzou had been blessed with. The most annoying thing about it all was that it wasn't even that he'd miscalculated a jump or anything like that. No, instead, as he was eyeing a branch full of ripe, juicy-looking plums, a buzzing sound attracted his attention. Renzou turned his head and spotted a swarm of bees floating nearby. His heartbeat spiked at once, but only for a moment. He eyed them carefully, warily taking a step away from them. They didn't seem to have any interest in him, but he didn't want to risk any trouble, so he hurriedly dropped down to the branch directly underneath him.

That had been a mistake. He encountered a much worse enemy then, landing right in front of a forming spiderweb, its architect hard at work. Renzou let out a yelp, flinched back, and then he was falling.

A surge of black filled Renzou’s vision for a brief second before he landed on his back much earlier than he thought he would. He stared in shock up at the foliage before the curling dark fingers of Yamantaka’s hand closed around him fully. He was laying in the demon’s palm and the golden rings behind the skull were regarding him carefully.

 ** _“Be more careful,”_** Yamantaka said as he stared down at his young host, lifting him to inspect for injuries. 

"S-Sorry..." Renzou's heart stuttered. He stared up wide-eyed at his familiar, trying to regain the breath that had been shocked out of him. That had been close. Way too close. A wave of gratefulness filled him to the brim and spilled out through their bond. "You saved me..." Renzou placed his hand over the demon's large finger which was holding him securely. The warm touch reminded him of the last time the demon had held him, with just as much gentleness and care. It made him feel very safe. "Thank you," he whispered.

Yamantaka’s head tilted. There was a small tendril of confusion that came from the large demon. 

**_“You called for me. I will always answer. You do not need to thank me,”_** he said as he placed Renzou down on one of the branches.

“Well, I wanna,” Renzou told him, with a smile that was shy and earnest at once. 

**_“Why?”_** Yamantaka began to shrink in size once Renzou was safely seated. Soon, he was a tiny, black wisp of a flame that flickered on the boy’s shoulder as if his jacket were on fire. The small version of the skull stared at him expectantly.

Renzou met that gaze head on, kicking his legs in the air as they hung off each side of the branch. "I just do," he told him. "I'm really grateful to you, yanno. So... I just want you to know."

 ** _“Hm.”_** Yamantaka looked pensive and Renzou could still feel the light confusion coming through. Soon, however, it faded, or it was more batted away by the demon himself. **_“Very well. I now know. You’re welcome.”_**

It was said so seriously that Renzou couldn't help but let out a small, slightly amused giggle. “Don’t forget it, okay?” he asked cheekily.

He knew Yamantaka wouldn’t, and yet, he felt another rush of gratefulness towards his familiar upon feeling the demon’s silent, solemn vow to heed his words. It felt good, having someone listen to him. It felt good, having Yamantaka around. Renzou smiled at the demon. His familiar’s presence and support meant the world to him. He was… a good friend. _Are we friends?_ It didn’t feel quite like the right word to describe their relationship, which was unlike any other Renzou had with anyone else.

Despite that, he could feel his familiar agreeing with him. The wordless confirmation was undeniable and it made Renzou’s smile widen a bit more.

 ** _“You will run out of stamina soon,”_** Yamantaka warned. **_“It is best if you do not do so in the middle of a forest.”_**

“Aw…” Renzou whined, but the demon was right. Now that his heartbeat had calmed down, Renzou could feel the strain that was creeping up in his body. His stomach growled too, making him glance up at the plums he’d wanted to snack on. He was so much farther away from them now. It would have to be a treat for another day. He let out a disappointed sigh, letting his legs swing back and forth some more as he glanced down at the ground below. He supposed it was about time to get back to school and deal with the trouble that awaited him. He really didn’t feel like it though. Spending time with Yamantaka was so much better than being in school. He hoped they would be able to spend even more time together in the future. In the meantime…

 _Carry me down?_ Though he knew he shouldn’t push himself further, Renzou stared at his familiar with hopeful eyes. 

Yamantaka glanced upwards before he nodded. **_“Very well.”_** The demon grew to his full size as the arm sprouted out from the flames. As soon as it was big enough, the hand scooped Renzou up into his palm. Before he was lowered down, however, another arm raised and closed a fist around some of the higher branches. 

The demon floated down with Renzou in hand and placed him in the grass. His fist hovered over the boy’s lap and opened, dropping several plums on his legs.

**_“If you want them, just get them.”_ **

Renzou’s mouth dropped open, though it quickly shifted into a delighted smile. “You’re seriously the best,” he said earnestly as he picked up one of the darker-looking plums. The faintly sweet aroma had him sinking his teeth into the juicy, mouthwatering fruit at once. He let out a pleased noise and immediately took another bite. 

The demon shrunk again and the tiny version of Yamantaka settled down on his shoulder. He watched Renzou eat, felt his joy and his gratitude, and the smug pride built up again. 

**_“How does it taste?”_** he asked curiously.

 _You can't tell?_ Renzou licked his lips clean of the sticky syrup dripping from them and stared at his friend with a slight pang of disappointment. He wished he could share the experience somehow. Maybe if he concentrated hard enough?

 _It's a little tart on the outside and really sweet on the inside. See?_ Renzou closed his eyes tight as he took another bite. He focused on the way the taste sank into his tongue as he sucked on the soft flesh. 

**_“Hm.”_** Yamantaka stared at Renzou, trying to receive the concentration that the boy was attempting to convey to him. Eventually, he shook his head. **_“I sense that you are enjoying it, but I cannot taste the way you do. Do you enjoy sweet things?”_**

The disappointed feeling remained, though it did not keep Renzou from finishing the last few bites of the fruit. _Yeah!_ he told the demon. _Sweets are my favorite!_ He picked up another plum off his lap, smiling at it. 

Well, though he did wish he could share them with Yamantaka, it was also nice to be able to enjoy them all to himself. Usually, dessert was always evenly divided between his friends, which always left him wanting more. 

_"Don't be too greedy, Renzou. Treats like this won't feel as special if you overdo it, yanno,"_ Juuzou had told Renzou once good-naturedly upon spotting seeing him pouting.

 _What do you like?_ Renzou asked as he happily began to down another plum.

 ** _“I like using my energy. I like to be here in Assiah and I like fighting.”_** Yamantaka nodded. **_“You are also important to me, so I like you as well. That is all.”_**

Renzou's cheeks pinked at the candid words. _I like you too,_ he was quick to reply before considering the rest of what the demon had said. 

Fighting huh... Renzou wasn't a fan of it himself, but after the afternoon he just had, he thought he understood a little better. The way Yamantaka's power had coursed through him had made his body sing with an addicting sort of energy. Using it had felt good. Using it to win a fight against his brothers? Even just thinking about it felt awesome.

_Do you want me to summon you more often? Like at school and stuff? I don’t think anyone there can see you. But it’s kinda boring though._

**_“Yes.”_** Yamantaka answered quickly. **_“I want to be out more. And it will also serve to raise your stamina so you can handle my power for longer periods of time.”_**

 _That's true! Gotcha, then I'll do that, starting tomorrow. But just at school, okay?_ Renzou didn't think it would be a good idea to summon him when he was home. It would draw too much attention, and then his family would get annoying. 

_It'll be our little secret. Okay?_

**_“I will keep this secret.”_** Renzou felt the promise and excitement powerfully through their link. Yamantaka flared like a campfire, making the feeling visible. 

Renzou grinned.

And, as he picked up another plum from his lap, he couldn’t help to think that Yamantaka had been right—his time had been better spent out here than back in that boring classroom. He was looking forward to skipping school again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Our next update will be on the 20th <3 Happy New Year!!


	3. Chapter 3

“I don’t know where you’ve gotten the idea that skipping class was a good idea, but this will not continue!”

There was a particular spot on the floor where the lines of the wood curved in a way that resembled a crescent moon. Not far beyond it, there was another that looked like the face of a woman. Kind of. He had to tilt his head to really make out the shape, but right now, Renzou had to remain still as he stared down in the general direction of his knees while he sat on the floor with his legs tucked beneath him. 

This was not the first time his dad had lectured him about skipping class, and like all the other times before it, Renzou heeded Yamantaka’s advice and chose not to listen to him. _He really goes on and on…_ Renzou complained to his familiar as he continued to stare at the floor, trying to make out interesting shapes out of the curved uneven lines and dents on it. 

**_‘A small price to pay,’_** the demon replied. As usual, Renzou’s feelings were reciprocated by his familiar. **_‘Pushing over that big boulder makes it worth it.’_**

 _Heh, that was pretty cool, wasn’t it?_ A small smile snuck on Renzou’s face. He’d pushed the boulder over the edge of a cliff and seeing it split evenly in half when it landed had been awesome. He’d climbed down after and ran his hand across the smooth cut. A few small chips had lay scattered around it from the impact and Renzou had picked one up to take back with him as a memento. Its weight rested in the front pocket of his pants currently. 

**_‘Yes. It was a_** **pretty cool _show of power.’_** Yamantaka emphasized the words, repeating them in a slightly stilted tone as if he wasn’t used to saying it. **_‘After your father is finished, perhaps we can go out and do more.’_**

 _I don’t think I’m gonna be able to go anywhere when he’s done with me…_ Renzou told him, already resigning himself to the fact that he was going to be stuck in his room until he “learned his lesson.”

 ** _‘You can sneak out through the window of your room,’_** Yamantaka offered. **_‘It is big enough for you to crawl through.’_**

Renzou's eyes lit up at the idea, though he tilted his head in thought. _The problem is my brothers. There's no way I'll be able to do it if they're in there with me. But Juu-nii is on kitchen duty today, and Gou-nii's got training with dad. So that just leaves Kin-nii..._

His brother wasn't one to stay indoors if he could help it, but if his dad told him to keep an eye on him, Kinzou would comply obediently and without question. Renzou just had to hope it wouldn't come down to that.

 ** _‘If he becomes a problem, we can simply put him to sleep,'_** Yamantaka said off-handedly. **_‘He will not be an issue.’_**

 _I don’t know…_ Renzou bit his lip. Despite knowing just how much strength Yamantaka was capable of giving him, he still felt intimidated by his older brother. _He's not easy, yanno?_

 ** _‘You do not have to fight him head on. Use my flames behind his back and he will fall asleep,’_** the demon reassured Renzou. There was a small wave of warmth that he pushed through the boy’s body. It made the chilly room a bit easier to handle. **_‘You’re good at being silent. Use it to your advantage.’_**

Renzou preened a little at the compliment. He took pride in being good at sneaking around. _Right! I can do that._

**_‘Yes, you can. He is stupid enough that he will not notice.’_ **

“Renzou! Are you listening?!” Yaozou snapped suddenly. Renzou glanced up from the floor at once, schooling his face appropriately. The scowl on his father’s face was deeper than before and his arms were crossed over his chest. 

“Yes, sir,” he answered promptly. Inwardly, he wished he could stick out his tongue instead.

“Then what did I just say?” His father spoke in a scathing tone as if he knew his son was lying. And he would have gotten him, if it wasn’t for Yamantaka.

**_‘If you skip again, no dessert for a month.’_ **

“If I skip again, no dessert for a month,” he repeated in a monotone voice, fighting the urge to smile. _Thanks!_ he told the demon as his toes happily curled behind him.

**_‘You’re welcome.’_ **

Yaozou’s eyes widened a fraction before he frowned again. Renzou felt a little smug seeing that expression on his father’s face. His appreciation towards Yamantaka only grew.

“Good,” his dad muttered before pointing to the door. “Now get to your room and stay there until dinner.”

“Yes, sir,” Renzou said again. He was all too glad to finally be able to get to his feet. His legs felt sore after having been forced to stay in the same position for almost half an hour. Possibly more. He hurried off to his room, happy to escape his dad’s overbearing presence, and excited to sneak back out, hopefully without any sort of interruptions.

 ** _‘It’s surprising that humans can talk for that long,’_** Yamantaka remarked. Renzou could feel the slight irritation coming from the demon. **_‘It was a waste of time.’_**

 _Dad says it’s important to learn to be patient,_ Renzou said, rolling his eyes. He was pretty sure that was just his dad’s way of excusing the fact that he liked listening to his own voice. He was always a little too quick about lecturing him and his brothers whenever the opportunity arose. He didn’t think any one of them ever paid much mind to what their father said, except maybe Juuzou, but they all knew to sit still until Yaozou was done lecturing him. Interrupting him or disagreeing only meant being stuck with him for longer, and no one ever wanted to risk that. 

_He’s such a pain…_ This time, Renzou had nothing to hold him back from making a face. 

**_‘He has always been that way,’_** Yamantaka said with an annoyance that mirrored Renzou’s. **_‘We must simply bear with it. For now, let us find a way to sneak out.’_** The annoyance quickly became anticipation at the idea of going out again. He had been enjoying the explorations into the forest very much. Seeing so much of the world through Renzou’s eyes, Renzou using his power and sometimes summoning him completely, not to mention his host’s happiness when they indulged together—it was all amazing and exciting. The door to a world of freedom had opened up to both of them. And for Renzou, in particular, the feeling of loneliness that had once overwhelmed him felt like so long ago now thanks to his ever-present companion. 

_Looks like Kin-nii’s not here…_

Renzou let out a sigh of relief as he got to his room without any interruption. He wasn’t sure where his brother was, nor did he care. What was important here was that he got away quick while he had the chance. He hurried over to his bed and made sure to arrange his blankets and pillows in a way that made it seem like he was just sleeping. Just in case. There’d be no stopping Kinzou from trying to get him out of bed, but his other siblings might let him sleep for a little longer before they realized that Renzou was gone. 

He was going to _try_ to get back before it was time for dinner, but honestly, he wouldn’t mind skipping out on that too. 

_Alright then. All set!_ A giddy, eager smile spread across Renzou’s lips as he quietly slipped out of the window of his room. He made sure to close it carefully enough so that he could slip back in later, and, using his surroundings to his advantage, Renzou hurriedly snuck back into the familiar path that led to the forest he spent the majority of his time in these days.

_Where should we go now?_

The ferocity in Yamantaka’s excitement was energizing. 

**_‘I want to really cut loose. Let’s find something we can break.’_** The demon’s power thrummed at his fingertips, begging to surge through Renzou’s body the moment it was given permission to. 

_Again?_ Renzou laughed quietly. _That huge boulder wasn't enough for you?_ he asked teasingly as he strode forward with a hop to his step, looking around for something to destroy. 

**_‘We can do better. We can do more.’_** It clearly wasn’t. Yamantaka was just as insatiable as he had been earlier when they had sought out something to do. 

_There's not a lot around here, yanno,_ Renzou pointed out, personally much more interested in getting high up again to explore the forest from that line of sight. It was always a marvel. _Just trees, trees, and more trees._ He paused. _Guess we can give that a try?_ He gave the nearest one to him a dubious glance.

 ** _‘We can probably uproot one.’_** Yamantaka’s vicious mischievousness bubbled up like a salve on Renzou’s hesitation. **_‘Think about it.’_**

Renzou did. He wasn't convinced that he could without fully summoning Yamantaka. Even earlier, he'd struggled a bit pushing that boulder when he had his familiar's power running through his body. Lifting would be impossible, wouldn't it? Still, his familiar's enthusiasm was infectious. Trying never hurt anyone, right? 

_Alright, alright. But I wanna go for a swim after! Can you fly us over to that lake we found the other day?_

**_‘I will.’_** The demon agreed easily but a moment’s curiosity put a pause on Yamantaka’s eagerness. **_‘But you do not have a swimsuit.’_**

It was true. The last time they'd been on that lake, Renzou had conveniently had one on hand. _Eh, that's fine,_ Renzou thought dismissively, not very concerned about it this time around. _There's no one out there aside from you and me, so I don’t mind._

The demon’s understanding was felt easily. He accepted Renzou’s words as he always did. **_‘Very well. I will take us to the lake after we push over a tree.’_**

 _Take us even if we can't!_ Renzou added, but a smile sprouted on his face at the steadfast answer he got in return. It was one he was beginning to grow very familiar with. A confidence that made him feel invincible.

**_'I will take us even if we cannot.'_ **

Renzou’s smile grew as not even a hint of resistance to his request popped up from his familiar. He was learning that Yamantaka liked exerting the effort more than the actual end result. Pushing over a tree and watching it fall from his own brute strength sounded cool, but he knew deep down that as long as he tried, the demon would be satisfied. That type of easy-going personality was one Renzou appreciated whole-heartedly, and in reality, it really did make him try his best. After all, if there was anyone he was interested in keeping happy these days, it was his familiar. 

_Alright, let's do this._

As Renzou stopped in front of a tall, skinny tree, he couldn't help but to think back about a similar time he had gone out into the forest with the intention of bringing back home a tree. It had all been Ryuuji's idea. He had gotten it into his head to prepare the best Christmas party after one of their bullies at school had made fun of them for being poor again. Though the Myou Dha didn’t celebrate Christmas, and though at the time the three of them had no idea what was actually necessary to make it the “best Christmas party”, due to Kinzou’s idiotic advice, they’d managed to get a fair, if misguided idea of how to pull it off. One of the key items, naturally, had been to retrieve a tree they could decorate, but back then, Renzou and Ryuuji had only been able to find a short bamboo tree to bring back.

The tree Renzou was about to try to knock down now would have been a much more impressive Christmas tree. He couldn’t help but to imagine how wide-eyed and happy Ryuuji would have looked if Renzou had been able to help him bring this type of tree back at that time.

Then again, Renzou didn’t want to let anyone know just how close he had gotten to Yamantaka. It was their little secret. 

Effortlessly, in a way that was becoming instinctual, Renzou called on Yamantaka’s strength. His familiar burst with excitement in a way that warmed his body and flushed his cheeks with a thin layer of adrenaline. He braced his feet on the soft forest ground and pressed his hands against the trunk of the tree. He began to push.

The tree gave more resistance than he anticipated. The roots must have dug deeply into the dirt. He would have to push harder. Renzou readjusted his stance and pushed the strength of his upper body into it as well.

 ** _‘It’s leaning…’_** The low excitement in the demon’s voice edged him forward and Renzou could feel the tree shift under his strength. The roots were beginning to surface from the soil beneath it. Renzou stared at them in awe. The lingering doubt he'd carried dissipated as the wood groaned and creaked under his incredible power. He redoubled his efforts and pushed with all his strength, thinking:

Was there anything that he couldn't do?

Yamantaka’s answer was firm and resolute.

**_‘There is nothing you can’t do.’_ **

Renzou found himself swimming in a vast and endless pool of his own ego moments later as he stood before the tree he and Yamantaka had felled together. The adrenaline coursing through him now filled him with twice as much giddiness as he had felt earlier today, when they'd pushed over that giant boulder. 

"We did it...!" Renzou was grinning, opening and closing his hands, staring at the trees around them with a desire to push down a bigger target, of wanting to push himself to even greater heights. 

**_‘We did.’_** The excitement was infectious and, once again, the two found themselves in a feedback loop of eager and vain confidence. **_‘Do you want to push down another one or do you want to go to the lake?’_** Despite that, Yamantaka was a demon of his word. Though he asked and prodded when he wanted something, he adhered to whatever deal he and Renzou made without fail.

 _Let’s do it again!_ Renzou was too swept in the moment to even think about going for a leisurely swim. Plus, they could always go after they’d had their fill here, couldn’t they? Renzou approached an even bigger tree than the last one with a skip to his step, knowing he had plenty of energy to spare. Thoughts of getting back home before dinner had long left his list of priorities. 

This tree, though larger, bent much quicker than the previous one as Renzou used all his strength from the beginning. He could hear the groan of roots as they attempted to grip tightly to the ground but soon, they too yielded under his and Yamantaka’s power. They snapped and cracked, sounding like lightning strikes in the storm of adrenaline that surged through his veins. As he felt the tree’s weight tip and gravity take over, an impulsive thought took him. 

Renzou jumped, grabbing on to one of the lower branches and riding the tree down until it thundered from the impact. The vibrations rushed through his feet and hands and rattled his teeth. The power and weight of the tree he felled only served to fan the flames of his ego. He stood on the trunk, took a deep breath, and let out a yell of triumph that echoed between the trees of the forest around him. It felt good. It felt more than good. It felt euphoric to be this strong. He could sense Yamantaka’s agreement beneath the surface of his skin like a raging wildfire, wanting nothing more than to destroy everything in its path.

 _This is awesome...! We're unstoppable...!_ It was a sensation that, after growing up feeling so weak and powerless, Renzou felt addicted to. To think that all along he'd had this potential residing inside of him... Nothing his dad had ever taught him had even hinted he could do all of this. All he ever talked was about how he should control Yamantaka, about how to keep him in check... and for what? 

**_‘We are,’_** Yamantaka agreed emphatically. There was a genuine rush of happiness that was triggered from Renzou’s thoughts in a way he hadn’t felt from the demon before. **_‘You are much better than Takezou.’_**

_I... what?_

All at once, the cacophony of feelings rushing through Renzou came to an abrupt halt. Yamantaka's declaration stunned him to the core. 

Better than Takezou? Renzou was? 

He'd been compared to his late older brother for longer than he can remember, but never once in his life had he ever heard anyone tell him he was better. The spiels he had put up with listening to had always been about how he needed to live up to Takezou's example, to surpass the rest of his brothers... And here, the very being that had been tied to Takezou's existence, who would know Takezou best due to their intimate connection, who knew Renzou just as deeply for the same reason, was saying this... 

"Do you... really mean that?" 

**_‘Why wouldn’t I? I have no reason to lie to you.’_** Yamantaka’s honesty was palpable. **_‘Takezou never listened to me. He never let me cut loose when I wanted to and never used me like you do. I like you much better than Takezou.’_**

Wide-eyed, Renzou blinked slowly through the shock. The words expanded inside of him, filling every hairline crack that ever formed, that had chipped away at his self-esteem with every word his family had ever directed to him, every implication that he was lesser. 

The physical strength Yamantaka granted him with had made him feel invincible. The admission that he was _better than Takezou?_ That made him feel complete. His heart throbbed with a warmth so hot, so fulfilling, that had Renzou clutching onto himself. His hands were clasped around his upper arms in a gesture akin to a hug as the grin blossomed widely across his face. He was practically vibrating on the spot.

 _I like you too_ , he told Yamantaka. _Better than everyone. Better than anyone! I’ll always listen to you,_ he promised fervently.

Renzou could feel the warmth double in a blossoming rush. It encompassed him as if he was being hugged in return. 

**_‘And I’ll listen to you. I am very glad I chose you.’_ **

_You said that before._ Renzou couldn’t help but to pick up on that phrase this time. It was an impulse partially driven by curiosity, partially driven by a desire to fish for more compliments. The greed for the latter was far too tempting. _Why did you? Choose me?_

 ** _‘Because you were right for me.’_** It was a simple answer, but no less confusing.

 _How could you have possibly known that?_ Renzou asked, pressing, but his smile didn’t falter in the slightest, enchanted as he was by those words.

 ** _‘I just knew.’_** Renzou felt the warmth in his body collect to one point at his chest where a tuft of black flame flickered out from his body. Yamantaka’s eyes opened and the piercing amber rings regarded Renzou as the flame took the shape of his small form. 

**_“You were there when Takezou died and you were the one who was the best fit out of all of them,”_** he said with a nod.

Out of all of them... Renzou could hardly wrap his head around it. Better than perfect Takezou, than steadfast and eager-to-please Juu-nii? Better than Gou-nii, who was reliable to a fault, than Kin-nii, who, while stupid, possessed incredible prowess when it came to fighting?

Yamantaka had all those options, and out of all of them, he had picked Renzou. He was happy with Renzou. The truth of this was engraved into him already but it resonated louder than ever now. 

How much luckier could Renzou have been? He was so grateful to be alive; to have been blessed with such a perfect companion. To have been chosen. 

"Hehe." Renzou grinned and leaned forward to press a small kiss to the top of his familiar's body. The way the flames brushed against his lips was weirdly ticklish, which had him giggling some more. "I'm glad," he told the demon as he rocked back on his heels. "Thanks for choosing me, Taka!"

Yamantaka blinked up at him and the curious confusion coming from the demon was a little endearing. **_“You have given me a nickname?”_**

Renzou could instinctively tell that Yamantaka didn’t dislike it, but he still scratched the side of his cheek a little bashfully. “Yeah. Is that fine? Do you mind it?” 

**_“I don’t mind it.”_** The response was expected, but no less relieving. Yamantaka flickered before floating up and pressing the tip of his nose against Renzou’s. It was a small imitation of the kiss he’d just received. **_“Should I also use a nickname for you?”_**

“Do you wanna?” If Renzou’s eager answer wasn’t enough to indicate his thoughts on the matter, the radiant grin on his face as he reached up to cover his nose was. It was a reverently wondrous touch, one that sought to etch the feeling of Yamantaka’s warm flames into his skin. “You can! I don’t mind it either!” He’d love it. Something else that would be solely shared between them. 

**_“I do want to,”_** the demon said, watching Renzou’s expression with appreciation. **_“I have not used nicknames before. You just shorten the name, right? I will call you Ren.”_** Yamantaka nodded and Renzou could feel his familiar’s satisfaction at the chosen nickname. It mirrored his own.

“I like it,” Renzou told him, savoring the echo of the nickname in his mind. _Ren._ It felt nice to discard the second half of his name, the symbol that branded him as just one other Shima kid amongst the many. 

**_“Good.”_** Yamantaka looked around at their surroundings, taking in the destruction he and Renzou had wreaked together with a smugness that made the black flames flicker a bit bigger. **_“What do you want to do now?”_** he asked, turning his attention back to Renzou.

"Oh, right. Swimming!" With the topic back on his mind, Renzou made sure to lend Yamantaka more of his energy so that the demon could carry him. Yamantaka grew to his full size, the white skull emerging from the black flames last as his amber eyes shone through the holes, looking down at Renzou who was now much smaller than he was. He looked up at the demon expectantly. "Let's go!"

His familiar nodded and placed a hand behind Renzou’s knees. With a small hop, he sat down in Yamantaka’s palm and the fingers curled around him protectively. He held on to the index finger around his chest and beamed as the demon rose from the ground. 

Yamantaka didn’t travel fast, but it was faster than walking through the forest, not to mention easier. Renzou lowered his chin, resting it against the warm finger as he smiled at the slight breeze that caressed his face. He could get used to this. 

However, the lake wasn’t too far, thus the trip was short. It wasn't long before Yamantaka was lowering Renzou to the ground, carefully opening his hand to allow him to stand.

“Thanks!” Renzou chirped, twisting around with a quick heel movement so he could stare up and smile at Yamantaka. Immediately after, Renzou turned towards the water in excitement and hurriedly rushed to take off all his clothes. He took a running leap before jumping into the water and making a big splash.

“Ahh,” he said when he rose up to the surface again, kicking his legs beneath the cool water which felt so pleasant around his skin. _This is nice._

Renzou looked over to watch as Yamantaka drew his arms into the mass of black flames that was his body and floated over the water towards where he was, skimming the surface like a heavy fog. The demon didn’t say anything. He merely watched him swim. 

"Taka, you've been around for long, right?" It was a rhetorical question, and Renzou felt Yamantaka's confusion over the obvious answer to it. "Tell me...!" Renzou continued as he swam leisurely through the water. "I wanna know about your previous hosts. About Take-nii and the others. How did you end up tied to my family anyway?"

 ** _“Hm.”_** Yamantaka shrunk to half his size, the skull still suspended among a cloud of black flames. **_“The first was many generations ago. A woman named Kana. She was intelligent and made the contract with me to protect her family for as long as it persisted. I have been through many hosts. Some, I was with them for their full life. As with you, I chose them when they were a baby. With others, my best fit was, at times, already an adult. I chose Takezou when he was your age, after your grandfather died.”_**

"But why did you agree to protect us?" Renzou asked, fascinated by this information. 

**_“So that I can be here,”_** Yamantaka answered simply.

“That’s it?” Renzou, who had little understanding still about the world of demons, couldn't quite grasp the concept. Sensing this, the demon explained.

 ** _“It is simple for you to reside in Assiah because this is where you were born. It is not simple for me. I can only exist here through immense effort from myself or through your energy.”_** Yamantaka’s gaze was drawn to the water, the way it splashed and moved. He eyed it with intensity. **_“Gehenna is a wasteland. Nothing exists there. Being summoned here, experiencing the world, using my power in a dense realm like Assiah, is an experience that cannot be replicated. To cut loose with as much energy as I can muster is something that I can only achieve here with you and your family.”_**

“Huh…” Renzou couldn’t quite picture it, but he didn’t doubt Yamantaka’s words. “So your home sucks too.” Yet, that wasn’t his main takeaway. “But is this really enough? Just using your power?” The thought of Yamantaka never experiencing how things tasted and felt had Renzou frowning. The connection they shared seemed insufficient. “Isn’t there a better way for you to be here?”

Yamantaka shook his head. _**“My black flames consume the spiritual structure of anything I attempt to possess, and my essence soon erodes the physical body that remains. This is the only way.”**_

Renzou's frown twisted unhappily. He wasn't satisfied with this answer. There had to be a way...! "Doesn't seem very fair..." he muttered as he lazily kicked his legs and floated over closer to his familiar. It made him sad thinking that the demon couldn't share the same experiences that Renzou could. 

"You can't feel this either?" Out of curiosity, Renzou raised one of his hands and reached towards Yamantaka, wanting to press his palm against one of the demon's own. As if sensing his intention, the demon’s hand emerged from the formless flame to meet his.

Renzou’s hand was tiny in comparison, but after a moment, the large hand shrunk to something closer to his size. 

**_“Nothing like what you would feel,”_** Yamantaka said, the palm pressing against his as if to push more effort in trying to feel something. The demon shook his head. **_“That is simply the way it is.”_**

 _Well, I don’t like it._ Renzou’s feelings on the matter were broadcasted clearly. But he wasn’t sure what he could do about it. The frustration had him sulkily drawing back his hand and staring down at it in thought as he opened and closed it. 

Yamantaka’s hand, however, reached over to pat Renzou’s head before drawing back into the cloud of black flames. **_“If it were simpler, I wouldn’t be as powerful. I am fine with this.”_**

“Hmph…” Renzou absentmindedly lifted his hand to cover the spot Yamantaka had touched. The warm contact felt nice… but it only cemented the matter at hand. It was an experience the demon could not enjoy in the same way. 

_There’s gotta be a way…_ Renzou thought once again. Never in his life before had he ever felt so motivated to tackle a problem. But he had no idea how to begin helping his friend. He didn’t know enough about demons, about Gehenna, much less about how contracts worked. And thus, a small seed was born inside of him to seek this knowledge. 

“I’ll figure something out,” Renzou said eventually. He’d been floating on the water as he contemplated the matter in silence. The light of the sun that had been illuminating the small clearing they were at was almost completely gone, but Renzou hardly paid it any mind. His attention was fully on Yamantaka. Once again, the boy extended a hand towards his familiar, this time, sticking his pinky out. 

The demon stared at the pinky and tilted his head curiously. Renzou was clearly expecting some sort of contact. In an effort to reciprocate, a hand emerged from the flames again and one finger touched the tip of Renzou’s outstretched digit.

Renzou laughed a bit. "It's gotta be your pinky!" he said. Finally, once the demon complied, Renzou hooked his small finger as much as he could around Yamantaka's much larger one.

"I want you to experience this world the same way I do. So, with this, I promise to figure out a way for you to be able to! Okay?"

The amber rings watched Renzou as he treaded water in front of him. Slowly, the large pinky curled around Renzou’s little one before he nodded.

 ** _“Very well. If you can find a suitable solution, I have no reason to refuse.”_** Yamantaka looked down at their fingers again. **_“But why are the pinkies necessary?”_**

"'Cause it's a pinky promise! And that's how they work," Renzou told him, happy to impart this important knowledge. "It's a promise that can't be broken, so for sure, I will find a way to help you!"

 ** _“I see.”_** Yamantaka nodded, taking Renzou’s words rather seriously. **_“I will accept this contract. What do you want from me in exchange?”_**

"Uhh..." Renzou, not having expected that response, struggled to come up with an answer. "Just... this is fine. Hanging out together, having you help me out when I need you..." More earnestly, he added, "I wanna help you 'cause I like you, Taka. Friends help friends, yanno!"

 ** _“Friends help friends,”_** Yamantaka repeated before he nodded. **_“Very well. I will continue to help you to the best of my ability.”_** The pinky curled again around Renzou’s a bit more firmly, echoing Yamantaka’s steadfast understanding.

"It's a promise!"

Renzou was smiling radiantly when they let go of each other. Despite the challenge that lay ahead, he felt excited by the task he had taken on. In the coming days, the distraction that had started to plague his daily life would only get worse as he put his full attention in trying to figure out how to fulfill it.

But as for tonight, Renzou's only concern was surviving the amount of trouble he was going to be in once he got back home. It really had gotten late much too quick… He was sure they had noticed him missing by now, and even if they hadn’t, there was no way he was making it back in time for dinner. Either way, his dad was absolutely going to kill him; his siblings too, if they had been recruited into going out to look for him. 

But at least, he had Yamantaka to keep him company through it again. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next ch will be on February 3rd! With a brand new perspective ;) Hope you enjoyed this one! See you again soon!


	4. Chapter 4

There was something strange going on with Renzou. Ryuuji couldn’t quite put his finger on what it could be. All he knew was that his childhood friend had been drawing away from them more and more lately. Konekomaru had noticed this too, probably way before Ryuuji if he had to be honest with himself, but neither of them had paid much attention to it at first. After all, it wasn’t unusual for the Shima family to pull their kids aside for private, family-only training sessions. The Houjou’s were the same way. So Renzou’s absences didn’t feel all that abnormal, and though Ryuuji missed hanging out with his friend, he had other worries that he was more preoccupied with.

To start with, ever since the Myou Dha decided to merge with the Knights of the True Cross Order, his dad had started to become increasingly absent. He wasn’t sure where his dad was going, or why, but more often than not, he was impossible to locate. He missed their dinner time. He stopped giving sermons. Sometimes, he wasn’t even around for breakfast, and when he was, the scent of alcohol clung to his clothes, barely hidden by the more familiar scent of fire and incense that Ryuuji was accustomed to associating with him.

At the same time, everyone else around him continued to become busier and busier as they dealt with the changes that the merger brought in. Strange people in stranger uniforms visited often to meet with the heads of the main families, discussing information that Ryuuji had little awareness of, information that he knew his dad was also missing out on. Why didn’t he seem to care about all of this? Why had he passed on the reigns of leadership to Yaozou and Uwabami? What did that mean for Ryuuji?

When Juuzou saw Ryuuji fretting about all of this one day, he managed to quell some of his fears. He’d placed his warm, comforting hand on Ryuuji’s head and told him not to worry.

“We’re all doing our best for you, Bon. So just keep your head up and rest easy. We’ll wait as long as we need to until you’re ready for all this.”

Ryuuji did feel better after hearing that, but his worry shifted over when Juuzou let out a long sigh not long after. 

“That said, it sure would be nice if Renzou could follow your example a little more often. That kid’s entirely too carefree…” Juuzou’s brow wrinkled as a troubled expression overtook his face. “Have you seen him today, by the way?”

“Um. No, I haven’t,” Ryuuji answered hesitantly. “I thought he was training with Gouzou today. He mentioned that to us yesterday.”

“Oh? Did he?” Juuzou looked annoyed by this information. “Tch. That brat.” 

The unexpected response told Ryuuji a few things: 

  1. Renzou had lied to them yesterday for reasons Ryuuji didn’t yet understand.
  2. It probably wasn’t the first time his friend had lied to them, and given Juuzou’s reaction, he was probably skipping out on training often.
  3. Thinking on it further, Ryuuji hadn’t seen Renzou looking too beat up recently, which supported the theory that he was skipping training, but if that was the case, just what was he doing instead?



All in all, Ryuuji was suddenly filled with the desire to uncover the mystery behind his friend’s absence. But he needed to regroup with Konekomaru first. Thankfully, Juuzou didn’t seem inclined to keep him for longer. 

“Well, if you do see him, please drag him home when you can. He wasn’t supposed to leave his room in the first place…” The last part was added in a low mutter that Ryuuji’s ears managed to pick up on clearly anyway. It added yet another factor to the mystery. Was Renzou grounded? If so, why?

“He hasn’t been skipping classes all that much recently,” Konekomaru said thoughtfully, after Ryuuji had filled him in on the situation. “And he’s been getting really good marks on his tests too. You don’t think… maybe he got caught cheating? But I haven’t heard anything about that.”

Ryuuji had almost forgotten about it, but earlier in the year, Renzou had skipped school a lot. Ryuuji had scolded him over it for weeks, and he knew Yaozou had lectured him for much longer than that, and despite all of that, his friend still did it from time to time, but at least it wasn’t an everyday thing anymore. Still, thinking about that only made Ryuuji sigh heavily. Sometimes, he really didn’t understand his friend. It felt like Renzou just liked to make trouble for everyone for no reason. He never seemed repentant about it either. 

Maybe Konekomaru was on to something after all… Even though Ryuuji didn’t want to think the worst of his friend, he couldn’t say he would be surprised if that was the reason behind why Renzou was grounded.

“Where do you think he’s even at?” Ryuuji kicked a stray rock he found as he and Konekomaru walked towards one of their favorite hangout spots around the temple grounds. A lot of the buildings there were not in use these days, so Ryuuji liked to sneak inside to hang out there, knowing they wouldn’t be bothered. Plus, he liked to tidy up the area and keep it from getting too dusty whenever he had the chance. 

“I’m not really sure, but… the other day, I did see him coming back from the forest really late, from the direction of the mountains,” Konekomaru revealed with a worried expression. Ryuuji’s eyebrows rose in surprise before knitting together until his brow was deeply creased. 

It wasn’t as if the three of them never went to go play hide and seek in the forest or go exploring, but none of them ever went off alone, and they never wandered too deeply, at least not anymore. The adults were always telling them to never go into areas they weren’t familiar with. Ryuuji had notoriously learned his lesson when he had fallen down a cliff one day and gotten lost for several hours. His friends and family had been in a panic, but in the end, Ryuuji had walked away from the incident with only a sound scolding and a pair of skinned hands and knees.

“That idiot… What’s he doing sneaking into there all by himself?” Ryuuji muttered. He was struck with a weird mix of anger at Renzou, and a lonely feeling as well. Being left behind like this felt like a rejection. Given by the look on Konekomaru’s face, he felt the same way. However, beyond that, the uneasy seed of worry that planted itself into his stomach ever since he’d talked to Juuzou only grew. 

Just what was Renzou up to?

“Let’s follow him,” Ryuuji suddenly declared. Despite the fact that they weren’t sure where exactly Renzou was, despite the fact that they had promised the adults not to do anything reckless… The need to get to the bottom of this filled him from the bottom of his heart. 

“Bon… Are you sure?” Konekomaru bit his lip, but the hesitation was half-hearted, as if he was telling himself to act like the voice of reason. Given the glance he was giving in the direction where they suspected Renzou may be, Konekomaru was just as eager to go looking for their friend.

“Let’s go, Koneko. It’s nowhere near sundown yet. We’ll be fine as long as we stick together.” Ryuuji gave his friend an encouraging nod while clenching his fist in front of him.

And so, the two of them found themselves walking down a familiar path not much later as they tried to track their friend down. They visited the usual places they liked to hang out at together first, but they didn’t have much luck in finding Renzou there. They did, however, encounter a few strange sights as they walked around. Weird cracks on the ground, large boulders unnaturally split in half, and strangest of all, several trees had been knocked down in what seemed to form a path. It wasn’t even as if they had been chopped at the base. The very roots of the trees were sticking out, and every time they found another one, it seemed much bigger than the last. 

“W-W-What do you think did this?” Konekomaru asked, clinging on to Ryuuji’s side as they walked past the strange sight. 

Ryuuji honestly had no idea how to answer that question. He swallowed nervously and tried not to freak out too much about it.

“M-Maybe… some sort of… bear?”

The idea of encountering a bear out here was terrifying in itself, but worse than that, Ryuuji was one hundred percent sure that a bear couldn’t have done all this. So then… what had?

As they started to think that maybe they should head back home after all, a familiar voice reached their ears.

“I’m just saying, I’m still against this. No, no, we’re doing it! I agreed to do it. But that doesn’t mean I’m not gonna complain about it!”

“Shima…!”

“Shima-san…!”

The two of them gasped their friend’s name and after meeting each other’s shocked gazes, they picked up their pace closer to where the sound was coming from and kept their eyes peeled, but Renzou didn’t come into view, and even worse, he fell quiet for long enough that they thought they lost him again. 

_C’mon… Where are you?_ Ryuuji thought as he looked around back and forth, scanning the area without slowing down his pace. 

A faint giggle reached their ears. “Was that supposed to be a joke?” 

“Bon…!” Konekomaru’s hushed voice stopped Ryuuji in his tracks. The smaller boy tugged on the sleeve of his shirt and pointed up and Ryuuji’s mouth fell open as he finally spotted Renzou. Their friend was walking across the branch of a very tall tree as if it was a tightrope, looking far too confident in his movements despite his precarious position. It had Ryuuji’s heart leaping to his throat anxiously.

“It really couldn’t have been anythin’ else, huh?” Renzou let out a long sigh, completely unaware of their presence. “You better be quick about it, okay? Seriously!”

 _Just who is he talking to?_ Ryuuji and Konekomaru exchanged glances again, confusion and unease keeping them frozen and silent on the spot. But they couldn’t keep their eyes away from Renzou for long. Not when they were afraid he might fall at any moment they weren’t watching. They couldn’t even bear the idea of calling their friend’s attention for that very same reason. If he were to lose his concentration…

Almost as if they had dared this misfortune into existence, Renzou missed his next step. Ryuuji and Konekomaru reacted at once, rushing forward, their own yelps of worry buried underneath Renzou’s own startled one.

But then—

To their unending shock, Renzou didn’t fall at all. Instead, their friend's body stayed suspended in midair. His arms were stretched out on either side of him and he looked just as surprised as they felt, at least, until his expression softened into something grateful and sheepish. A smile that Ryuuji had never seen on Renzou’s face graced his lips. It was a genuine smile. A happy smile. And it remained there as Renzou’s body was carried back to the safety (?) of the branch he had been walking across. From there, he continued on as if nothing had happened, as if he was all too used to this sort of thing, and Konekomaru and Ryuuji remained frozen on the spot as they tried to process what they had just seen.

“W-What the hell was that?” Ryuuji hissed. 

“I… I don’t know!” Konekomaru murmured, wide-eyed.

They hardly had a moment to think about it further though. Renzou was already leaving them behind, not having noticed their presence at all, so they hurried on after him as quietly as possible. Despite having come all this way looking for him, despite how ready they had been to grab his attention moments ago, it was by a mutual, silent, agreement that Ryuuji and Konekomaru decided to observe him at a distance now. 

_Shima… Just what are you hiding?_

Renzou didn’t seem to be in a particular hurry to get to his destination, and he continued to hold one-sided conversations from time to time, though he just as equally remained quiet. 

“You think he’s like… talking to a demon or somethin’?” Ryuuji murmured.

“P-Probably… right? Like Mamushi-san.” Konekomaru’s brow was furrowed as he thought back on a few occasions they had seen Mamushi talking to someone they could not see. Uwabami as well. Both Ryuuji and Konekomaru were aware that the Houjou’s had snake familiars they could summon, but since they had never received a mashou, they were not able to see them at all. They thought Renzou was the same. He had always acted as if he could not see demons after all. Had that been a lie? Or maybe this was a recent thing...

Either way, it didn’t change the fact that they had no idea who he was talking to. Did he have a familiar as well? None of the other members of the Shima family had ever mentioned anything like that. And if this wasn’t Renzou’s familiar, just why was he interacting in such a carefree way with a demon?

The seed of worry nestled in Ryuuji’s stomach only grew further. It felt as if vines had crawled up to the space around his heart and began to squeeze tightly. He thought back on the path of destruction that had led them to Renzou. Had that been the demon’s work? It had to be. 

As Ryuuji’s head spun with all these thoughts, Renzou finally came to a stop. He’d been hopping daringly across the branches as he led them forward, an act that had Ryuuji and Konekomaru on pins and needles even though they were aware that Renzou wasn’t in any real danger of falling, but now, he spread out his arms again, and moments later, his invisible companion was carrying him down to ground level. Ryuuji and Konekomaru were careful to hide themselves behind the trunk of a large tree, curiosity and anxiety vibrating under their skin.

“Alright,” they heard Renzou mutter quietly before he slapped his own cheeks. Unlike the confident, happy demeanor he had displayed before, their friend looked a lot more nervous now. His knees were shaking, and even from this distance, it looked as if his skin had lost a shade of color. But even so, he moved forward in the direction of a cave located not far from where he stood. 

He stopped right before the entrance and crossed his arms across his chest, and although neither of them could see his face from this distance, they could tell Renzou was grimacing just from the way his body had tensed up. He spoke up again in a murmur that didn’t quite reach them this time, so Ryuuji nudged Konekomaru with his elbow and without having to say anything to each other, they both agreed to sneak forward as close as they could manage. 

_Crack._

It was just their luck, of course, that after successfully managing to get this far unnoticed, they made the simple mistake of not looking where they were stepping. The twig that snapped beneath their sandals had Renzou flinching just as much as they did, and then Renzou’s eyes were on them, shocked at first, before becoming just as accusing as his tone. 

“What’re you guys doing here?” 

Ryuuji’s response instinctively mirrored his friend’s tone. An ugly scowl appeared on his lips as he lifted his chin and took a step forward.

“Us? What’re you doing here! Didn’t you say you were trainin’ with Gouzou today?”

“Geh.” Renzou looked instantly annoyed to have been reminded of that and finally, a bit of guilt crossed his expression, though not for long. 

“How did you guys even find me?” he muttered petulantly, a question that only made Ryuuji angrier. Konekomaru looked upset about it too.

So they _had_ been left behind. Why?

Before Ryuuji could interrogate his friend further, Konekomaru beat him to the punch.

“I saw you the other day, coming back home from here…” His lips had fallen into a deep, unhappy frown and he was holding his hands across his chest, curled into tight fists that were as frustrated as they were anxious. “We weren't sure if we would find you here, but we didn’t know where else to start looking. And then we just…” Konekomaru hesitated. “We saw all those trees on the way here… That’s how we found you.”

Konekomaru didn’t have to say more than that for comprehension to fill Renzou’s eyes, and that alone told them that the assumptions that they had not been quite ready to believe yet were on the right track. Renzou _was_ involved in all that mess...

“What’s going on?” Ryuuji’s question cut straight to the point. “Why’re you here all by yourself and just what’re you hiding from—?”

It wasn’t as if anything happened for Ryuuji to cut himself off. There was nothing that caught his eye, no sound that distracted him. And yet, some instinct inside of him had him freezing in place for some reason, and in the next moment, Renzou was whipping around wide-eyed to face the cave head on again, and then he was ducking to the ground.

“Get down!” he shouted. 

Ryuuji, who was too stiff to make his own knees unlock, only went down thanks to Konekomaru, who pulled him out of the way, tugging him with enough force that they both fell backwards. Yet, the pain of his landing felt faint in comparison to the sharp feeling that flared across his arm at the same time. Ryuuji had thrown his left arm up without thinking as he fell, and in that moment, somehow, his skin had been sliced open. It stung something fierce. Ryuuji gasped and curled forward around the injury, which attracted the attention of his friends at once.

“Bon!” they yelled.

But as Konekomaru crowded around him in concern, Renzou hesitated to do the same. The worry in his face was drowned out by a much louder panic, a fear Ryuuji didn’t understand when he glanced up at him, not until he followed Renzou’s eyes, which were darting from the blood trickling down Ryuuji’s injury to— 

The sight of a giant spider that had definitely _not_ been there before had Ryuuji letting out a loud, terrified gasp which got stuck in his throat as he saw a shadow dart quickly towards it, flying over his head. His eyes widened further.

“What the hell?!” Ryuuji scrambled away, his panicked shout coming out no louder than a whisper. 

“Bon? What is it? What’s going on?” Konekomaru asked, and all Ryuuji could do was stammer and point towards where the spider was—the spider which was being torn apart by a far more terrifying monster; a beast with four arms and a skull for a face that made it look like death itself.

What the hell was that thing?!

“W-W-We n-need to run,” Ryuuji whispered, clinging on to Konekomaru, unable to tear his eyes away from the carnage before them. The spider let out a dying screech as a black flame consumed it, and, as the monster finished off its prey and turned towards them, Ryuuji scrambled to his feet.

**_“You can open your eyes now.”_ **

The voice evoked a full-bodied shudder from him but the confusing words gave Ryuuji reason to pause. His brow furrowed as he tried to make sense of them, and the faint noise of movement coming from behind him had him darting a glance back at Renzou. 

His childhood friend was trembling like a leaf, holding on tight to himself as he crouched down on the ground, but after bravely peeking one eye open, the tension slowly began to seep out of him. He stared beyond Ryuuji, right in the direction of the monster, and rather than being scared away by its presence, a small, relieved smile crossed his lips. Ryuuji barely had a moment to make sense of that expression, much less the fact that his friend could also see it even though Konekomaru still looked confused about what was going on, before Renzou was approaching the two of them.

“Hey. You okay?”

“Wha…” Ryuuji shook his head. He brought his arm back to his chest and curled over his injury protectively. “What’s going on?” he whispered.

Renzou rubbed the back of his neck. “I can… explain,” he said, grimacing. “But seriously why did you guys have to show up… Out of all the lectures I’ve gotta endure, this one is gonna be the worst…” 

“That’s what you’re worried about?” Ryuuji snapped. The familiar irritation he often felt when Renzou complained about this sort of thing fueled him at once. He only got more annoyed about it when Renzou waved him off. 

“Anyway, let’s take care of your arm first. If you bleed out here because of me, I really will be killed.” Despite his words, Renzou did look visibly worried about him, which was the only thing that kept Ryuuji from demanding he explain everything right then and there. Konekomaru seconded this decision, even though out of the three of them, he was definitely the most out of the loop at the moment and very much aware of it. 

“It’s not that bad…” Ryuuji’s arm still stung, but the wound wasn’t bleeding profusely or anything like that. Still, he relented, mostly because when he glanced back again towards where he had last seen that terrifying monster, it was no longer anywhere to be seen. It had just, silently, disappeared. 

He was really creeped out by the whole thing. But Renzou’s unusual composure in the face of everything was strangely comforting.

“C’mon,” Renzou said. 

Ryuuji and Konekomaru followed Renzou in silence as they made their way back through the forest. But rather than heading back home, Renzou led them down a path that opened up into a large clearing that had a lake. The three of them approached the water and under his friends’ watchful gazes, Ryuuji washed the blood off his arm before they all put their heads together to examine the wound.

“Guess you were right.” Renzou let out a sigh of relief as he leaned back. “Doesn’t look like you’re gonna die from it.”

“We should still head back home soon to get it treated,” Konekomaru added with a worried frown. “Does it hurt a lot?”

Ryuuji shook his head. Though the gash took up almost the entirety of the top of his forearm, it was a very surface wound. It wasn’t even bleeding anymore. So Ryuuji took this as his cue to start his interrogation.

“Explain.” Ryuuji looked up from his wound and set his eyes straight on his friend with a firm intensity intended to keep Renzou from running away. 

Renzou instantly grimaced again at the sight. He was familiar with it, given the amount of times Ryuuji had directed that look at him. 

“Well, I’m really not supposed to tell anyone outside my family about it…” was how he began, and he threw his hands up defensively when Ryuuji narrowed his eyes in response.

“Well, I’m not!” he protested. “Ugh, whatever though. Look, this guy?” Renzou pointed over his shoulder, and as he did, a small black flame popped up behind him unexpectedly, a flame that had a pair of familiar eyes. The haunting yellow color that had spooked Ryuuji before was staring at him again, though this time, the sight of those eyes felt a lot less threatening. 

“This is my friend, Yamantaka,” Renzou explained. “He’s my familiar. Has been ever since Take-nii died.” He paused and shifted his gaze to meet Konekomaru’s, who was following the conversation, albeit with a furrowed brow. 

“Ah, though, Koneko-san, you still can’t see him, right?” 

Konekomaru shook his head as his eyes darted from Renzou’s face to the space he had pointed at.

“Can I…?” Konekomaru looked hesitant. The idea of being able to see demons sounded scary, but it was visible just how much he didn’t like being the only one of the three of them not able to see them. “I… I wanna be able to see him too,” he said softly, before glancing at Ryuuji’s injury and biting his lip. The thought of being injured was hardly appealing, but he didn’t take back his words, turning to look at Renzou expectantly instead. 

“I don’t know…” Renzou scratched the back of his head. “You really sure about this?”

Ryuuji could guess what Renzou was worrying about. 

“We won’t get you in trouble for this. Even though I am mad that you lied to us,” he tacked on. After all, it needed to be said. Renzou made a face at him in response, but Konekomaru cut in before the two of them started going at each other.

“Shima-san, please?” 

It was hard to resist Konekomaru when he pulled that pleading, insistent face. Renzou gave in really quickly, though unhappily so.

“Alright, alright already. Stick out your hand.” 

Ryuuji watched as the small black flame—the demon, Yamantaka—floated over closer to them. He held still as it hovered over Konekomaru’s outstretched hand and watched without blinking as the black flame grew in size, enough to brush and lick against Konekomaru’s skin. At once, Konekomaru gasped at the burning sensation he felt, and then stumbled back a few steps, drawing his hand back fast the moment he was finally able to see Yamantaka with his own eyes. 

“H-Hello…!” he squeaked faintly.

 ** _“Hello,”_** the demon answered back.

That tenebrous voice had Ryuuji shuddering again, even though it sounded much less intense than it had before; perhaps because the demon itself felt a lot less intimidating when he was in that smaller size. 

“How come he looks like that now?” Ryuuji asked. The wariness he felt towards the strange demon wasn’t enough to hold back his curiosity.

“Oh, that?” Renzou seemed surprised by the question, but it seemed to be the right way to start this conversation, because the tension that had built up on their way here began to dissipate as he gave the demon a glance accompanied by a small smile. “It takes a lot of energy to summon him in this other form, but if it’s like this, it’s no biggie,” he explained easily. 

“What did he look like before?” Konekomaru asked as he nervously peered at Yamantaka. The demon didn’t seem nearly as interested in them, however. He returned to hover over Renzou’s shoulder in a manner that seemed practiced and comfortable. 

He really looked nothing like the terrifying monster Ryuuji had first seen. 

“He was… really big. Scary,” he muttered. 

“Yamantaka’s really strong,” Renzou corrected, his smile glowing with pride. He gave a fond glance at the demon, one that didn’t go unnoticed. 

“What were the two of you doing out here anyway?” Ryuuji asked, trying to erase that scary memory from his mind.

Renzou tilted his head at the question. “Hmm, I guess… training?”

 _What do you mean, “I guess”??_ Konekomaru and Ryuuji exchanged glances.

“Is this what you’ve been up to this whole time? All these months?” Konekomaru’s voice wasn’t accusatory, but the words stabbed into Renzou nonetheless given the slight wince he gave in response.

“I mean, I wasn’t lying about that part!” he said, clearly trying to excuse the fact that he had been ditching the two of them for far too long. It did nothing to soothe either of them. “Just ‘cause I wasn’t doing it with my family, doesn’t mean I wasn’t doing it at all!”

“Juuzou said you were supposed to be grounded,” Ryuuji countered, glaring at his friend, daring at him to lie to their faces again, but it seemed to have very little effect.

“When am I not?” Renzou grumbled, rolling his eyes. “It’s nothing. I just got into a fight with Kin-nii the other day, is all. We’re both grounded, but I wanted to come out to train anyway.”

“Since when are you so into this kind of stuff?” Ryuuji muttered, his voice holding a trace of disbelief. Still, he couldn’t refute Renzou’s excuse this time. After all, he hadn’t seen Kinzou around today either, and the two of them often got into fights. Yet, for some reason, he couldn’t help but to think he was being lied to again. 

“You could’ve just told us that.”

“So that you guys get on my case about getting into a fight with Kin-nii?”

“Well, you shouldn’t! You should try getting along better!” Ryuuji snapped, exasperated. Beside him, Konekomaru nodded in agreement. He never liked it when any of the Shima siblings were fighting with each other.

An annoyed look crossed Renzou’s face. 

“Hmph. You guys wouldn't understand,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest. “Anyway, let’s just drop it. We should start getting back already before people start worryin’ about ya. Not to mention, we’ve gotta deal with that.” He gestured towards Ryuuji’s arm.

Konekomaru glanced at the injury, the reminder of it making him frown with worry once again. He was about to voice his agreement with this plan when Ryuuji cut in instead. 

“I’m fine, I said. It doesn’t even hurt anymore and it's nothing that can’t be dealt with later.” He caught Konekomaru’s gaze, knowing he was the one he needed to convince most of all. “Look, we’re already here, aren’t we? We might as well stick around until it’s time to get back,” he said, staring between his two friends with a stubborn expression. “And anyway, you’ve been spending a lot of time here recently, haven't ya? You should show us around.” He directed this straight at Renzou, who looked surprised by the sudden turn of this conversation. 

“Uh… Sure? If you want?”

Renzou looked far too taken aback by his request, which caused Ryuuji to scowl. “We have missed you, you know…” he said, annoyed it had to be said at all. Then again, he supposed it only made sense for Renzou to feel that surprised about it. It had taken them all close to a year to address their friend’s increased absences. Ryuuji felt guilty for having put this off for so long, but he couldn’t quite get himself to admit it out loud. 

“Look, now that we’re in the loop, you can stand to drag us out with you if you’re gonna be sneaking out, yanno. Don’t go leaving us behind again! Collective responsibility, remember?” 

It had been Juuzou who had taught them this term once upon a time. 

“Yeah, yeah, alright.” Renzou rubbed the back of his head, clearly giving in to the pressure, though he didn’t look all displeased about it. Ryuuji was relieved when, after exchanging another glance to the demon who had remained silent this whole time, Renzou looked back at them with an easy smile that the two of them were more familiar with seeing from him. 

“Taka and I’ll show ya around. But not for too long, okay? And you better come up with a good excuse for what happened to your arm!” he warned.

Having said that, Renzou did as Ryuuji requested and began leading them around, chatting with them as if this was just another day, as if it hadn't been ages since the three of them last hung out like this.

It eased a fear that had built up in Ryuuji's heart earlier today. When they had seen Renzou balancing up on the branches, talking to the air and laughing carefree, a part of Ryuuji had felt so stunned by the sight; it was as if he had been seeing a stranger. 

But now... he felt relieved they had finally gotten to the bottom of this. He still had a lot of questions, and he was still equally curious and he was wary about his friend's mysterious familiar who continued to hover over Renzou’s shoulder as they walked around, but at least things felt like they could get back to normal now. 

He breathed easier, knowing there weren't any more secrets lingering between them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed this change of perspective!!! We'll be back with our usual protagonists next time. Next update will be on the 17th :) See you then!


	5. Chapter 5

“Renzou!”

Renzou instinctively winced at the sound of his father’s voice. As he slowly turned around, however, he was faced with a very unfamiliar sight.

“I got a call from your teacher. She says you’ve really brought your grades up. After that whole skipping class fiasco, I was worried, but you really pulled it together.” Yaozou beamed and ruffled Renzou’s hair. “Good job.”

Um. What? Renzou stared up at his dad wide-eyed, and despite having been sure just a moment ago that he was in fact awake, he couldn’t help but to wonder for a split second if he had somehow fallen asleep and was dreaming. 

_Taka, am I dreaming?_

**_‘You are awake,’_** Yamantaka replied. 

“You should get a reward for this,” Yaozou continued, still with a pleased smile. There was a hint of relief in his eyes too that Renzou couldn’t miss. “Is there something you want?”

“L-Like what?” Almost as soon as the words were out of his mouth, Renzou felt the urge to smack himself. If this was really real, he should be milking this opportunity! But he was so wrongfooted by the unexpected tone of this conversation. He couldn’t remember when his dad had last praised him for anything. 

“Hmm.” Yaozou crossed his arms. “Well, I know it’s only for special occasions but we have the extra money this month… How about a strawberry shortcake? I’ll get a small one just for you.”

 ** _‘This is strange. Your father is not possessed. I do not sense any demons nearby, and yet he is not acting like himself.’_** Yamantaka sounded more confused than concerned, mirroring Renzou’s feelings.

"Can we really?" Renzou blurted out. As surreal as this was, he wasn't about to say no to the prospect of strawberry cake. He only ever got to eat it for his birthday, and he always had to share with everyone. 

“Yes, you’ve been working hard. I’ll go get some so you can have it after dinner today.” Yaozou patted Renzou’s head, his smile warming further at the sight of his son’s excitement. “I’m very glad, Renzou. It’s such a relief to know you’re improving. I know Takezou would be proud if he was here. Now go along and play, and don’t miss dinner.”

And there it was. The sensation of his dad's hand on his head felt just as weird as it had the first time, but the novelty of it faded away as soon as _that_ name came up. Renzou made sure his expression didn't show it though. He didn't want to jeopardize the unexpected prize he had received after all. 

"Okay... Thanks, dad," he added belatedly before running off as instructed. It was only when he was far enough that he allowed his expression to show his true feelings.

 _That was weird_ , he thought, bringing up his hand to cover the spot where his dad had placed his hand. 

**_‘It was,’_** Yamantaka agreed, but the now familiar curiosity began to accompany it. **_‘You are not happy,’_** the demon stated, the unspoken question hanging between them.

 _I'm happy we're getting cake_ , Renzou told his familiar, but that was the only good thing that had come out of that conversation. To be quite honest, he'd walked away from it feeling slightly irritated. _‘I'm glad,’_ his dad had said. _‘Takezou would be proud.’_ What did Takezou have to do with any of this? Why wasn't his _dad_ proud? 

_Ugh, what does it matter anyway?_ Renzou told himself, bothered that he was even that twisted up over it in the first place. After all, it wasn’t as if he had done anything to really earn that sort of praise. Though his grades had gotten better recently, it was only because he had Yamantaka telling him all the answers he needed for his tests.

 ** _‘It matters if you are not happy.’_** The demon’s honesty struck him as usual. He could feel the prodding of his familiar as if Yamantaka was attempting to make sense of Renzou’s complicated emotions. **_‘You are happy and yet, you are not.’_**

Renzou kicked the dirt in front of him up into a small cloud of dust. _It's not like I wanna feel this way,_ he said sullenly.

Yamantaka appeared at his shoulder in his small form and stared at Renzou inquisitively. 

**_“Is it because of Takezou?”_**

Renzou’s expression soured at the name. “Everything’s _always_ about Take-nii,” he muttered petulantly.

 ** _“I see.”_** Yamantaka flickered closer. The small mass of black flames nuzzled warmly into the crook of Renzou’s neck. The soothing sensation helped the small boy instantly calm down and he brought up a hand to caress the black flames in return, just as affectionately.

“...Do you really like me better than Take-nii?” The question was uttered in the quietest, most timid voice. The confidence Yamantaka had filled him with when he had first heard those words had been shaken and he yearned for the reassurance. 

**_“I do,”_** the demon replied as the flames danced between Renzou’s fingers and warmed the skin at his neck. **_“You are my favorite.”_**

Some of the ugly, dark feeling that had begun encroaching inside of Renzou's heart slowly began to fade away. "Your favorite?” he repeated in a quiet whisper, with no small amount of delight. “Out of everyone else ever?"

 ** _“Yes.”_** Yamantaka’s answer was as simple and honest as always, and as usual, it was exactly what Renzou needed to hear. He closed his eyes and drank in the affirmation, the warmth being emitted from his familiar’s body. His demon’s opinions held far more weight than any of his family’s these days, so it wasn’t too difficult for him to push away the self-deprecating thoughts that had bubbled up when talking to his father.

“Hey… Can you tell me about Take-nii?” he asked hesitantly. A part of him didn’t really want to hear about his eldest brother. He heard enough of his family’s biased opinions on the subject on a daily basis. But he was interested to hear from Yamantaka, who had told him that Renzou was _better_. That Renzou was his favorite. He wanted to know exactly why. 

**_“Takezou was a foolish child.”_** The way Yamantaka began was not something that Renzou expected. **_“He was strong and disciplined, but he was too rigid. He would take on too many things himself and would never listen to me when I told him enough was enough. He would tire himself out too quickly and though he wielded me well, his stamina was much to be desired.”_** Yamantaka paused and Renzou held his breath; already he’d been stunned into silence, and this feeling only grew at his familiar’s next words. **_“He also had a terrible sense of direction. He got lost in the forest so much that he refused to go out into it.”_**

It really took Renzou a while to swallow all of that down. He’d never heard _any_ of his brother’s failings before. He would never have imagined that he had a terrible sense of direction, of all things! And that he took too much on? That really didn’t sound like him, given how perfect everyone always made him seem. But maybe Takezou had just been really good at hiding his faults. There was no way he could’ve tricked Yamantaka though, who coexisted closely alongside them.

“Dad always made it sound like Take-nii could do it all…” Renzou murmured, shaking his head. “And just how does anyone get lost in here, especially with you around?” he asked incredulously. 

**_“Indeed.”_** Yamantaka let out an aggravated sigh. **_“But your father placed it in his head that Takezou should not listen to me, so he did not allow me to help or summon me unless necessary.”_**

Renzou’s brow furrowed. “Well, that’s stupid,” he muttered.

 ** _“You are correct.”_** Yamantaka nuzzled into his neck again and Renzou felt a small wave of gratitude come from his familiar which softened his expression again. **_“I enjoy being summoned more often. Your grandfather and Takezou were the same. It drove me crazy. You are much better.”_**

“Hehe.” Affection and pride battled in Renzou’s heart as the compliment made his chest swell. “Don’t worry, Taka. I won’t ever treat you like they did. We’re best friends, after all!”

 ** _“Yes, we are.”_** Yamantaka rested in the crook of Renzou’s neck feeling relaxed. The outings they often went on truly did make Yamantaka happy. Nothing seemed to make him more calm and content than using his power with Renzou. 

“Speaking of which, we still got plenty of time before we’ve gotta get back for dinner, soooo…!”

They had been going out with Ryuuji and Konekomaru more often recently, which was nice in its own way, but Renzou liked spending time with Yamantaka alone too. Thankfully, his friends were both busy today, so they could finally spend time together. He had actually been on his way to the forest again when his dad stopped him. He didn’t want to waste any more of their precious time. 

**_“Where are we going to go?”_** The flame at Renzou’s neck flared up in anticipation making his ear flush a bit with the heat.

“How about this time, we get to the top of the mountain?” Renzou asked excitedly.

 ** _“Yes, I would like that.”_** The tame response was juxtaposed by the demon growing twice his size, the flames eagerly brushing against Renzou’s cheek and hair. The boy giggled with warm delight and ran out into the forest.

Time always flew by quickly when they were having fun. But this time in particular, his good mood was cut shut abruptly in the worst type of way.

“REEEEEZNOOOOU….!!!”

With the speed of a ninja and the thundering steps of an elephant, Kinzou crashed into him with a flying kick, sniffing him out as if he were a bloodhound. Renzou hissed as he hit the ground and an angry yell was on his lips when he felt Yamantaka’s strength leave him. The demon’s flames rose from his body and coalesced into his larger form, hovering over Renzou and glaring fiercely at Kinzou. 

Renzou could feel Yamantaka’s desire to attack, but he knew his familiar wouldn’t unless he expressly asked for it.

Between the comfort and confidence that his familiar's outrage filled him, and the anger he felt himself about being attacked so suddenly, Renzou sent his brother a scathing glare that matched Yamantaka's own. "What the hell are you doing here?!" 

"Huh? That should be my question, stupid!" Kinzou scowled at him, barely blinking an eye at the face of their combined wrath. He did, however, give Yamantaka a curious glance, though his confusion over the demon's presence did little to ease his irritation.

"Do you have any idea what time it is?" he snapped. "And why the hell do you have that thing summoned right now? Trying to sneak in some extra training? You're not gonna beat me that easily, yanno."

"Don't call him that!" Renzou growled. The seething anger in his stomach boiled to a roil. "Why is that any of your business anyway? It's not even sundown yet!"

"Well, dad sent me to bring you back already, so quit messing around and get up!" 

_You're the one that kicked me,_ Renzou thought mutinously, still feeling the ache in the center of his back. Yamantaka still burned hotly above him, but the hand that curled around his middle was as gentle as always. The demon lifted him to his feet, though his gaze didn’t leave his older brother.

Kinzou made a face upon witnessing this. 

"You're really starting to piss me off, you know," he said bluntly.

"Huh? That's my line! What’s even your problem?" Renzou muttered as Yamantaka let go of him.

"As if you don’t know. You're acting a little too full of yourself, aren't ya?" Kinzou’s expression twisted into an ugly sneer as he crossed his arms. "I know why dad's calling you back, yanno. Apparently, mom's making your favorites for dinner, and they bought you dessert too. All because you brought home good grades? Don’t think you’re so special just because of that!”

"Sounds to me like you’re just jealous. Maybe _you_ should try getting your grades up for a change," Renzou shot back. 

Kinzou didn't let that one fly. He slammed the side of his palm against the top of Renzou's head in a chopping motion. It was such a sharp hit that it had Renzou seeing stars for a couple of seconds. 

"Cut it out already...!" he growled, stomping his foot angrily as he brought his hands up to cover his aching head protectively.

 ** _“Hit him again, Shima Kinzou, and you will have one less hand.”_** The low tenor of Yamantaka’s voice seemed more intense than normal, vibrating the air around them.

Rather than being intimidated, however, Kinzou just seemed taken aback. "You can talk?!"

Yamantaka's heartfelt threat seemed to be all Renzou needed to stop holding himself back. 

“Of course he can talk, stupid. Better than you, even. Not that that’s a challenge for anyone.” He purposely taunted his brother this time, daring him to try and hit him again. 

Predictably, Kinzou fell for it, hook, line and sinker. “What did you just say to me, you little brat?” 

He lunged forward with the intention of picking Renzou up by the front of his shirt, but before he could, Yamantaka pulled Renzou back with one hand and picked Kinzou up with another, urged by his host’s silent command.

“What the—Let me down!” Kinzou protested, immediately struggling against the hold. 

Renzou looked up at his brother’s squirming body with a vindictive expression. "No,” he said, defiance clear in his voice.

 ** _“Your blatant disrespect will not be tolerated,”_** Yamantaka snarled as his other two arms sprouted out from his body and grabbed Kinzou by his wrists. He let the boy hang there as he lifted him up to eye level. **_“Since you are of Shima blood, I will grant you one mercy. Which hand do you prefer to lose?”_**

Kinzou growled. He glared straight into the demon’s eyes without an ounce of fear, filled to the brim with far too much irritation to feel anything else. “This isn’t funny! Let me go!” He tried, futilely, to tug his arms out of Yamantaka’s grip, but it remained steadfast. “Renzou! If you don’t get me down _right now_ —” 

“You’ll what?” Renzou crossed his arms over his chest. "You gonna hit me again? You _wish_."

The noise Kinzou in response would have Renzou sprinting in the opposite direction on any other day. As it was, this time it only fueled the joint desire he shared with Yamantaka to teach his brother a lesson. He really wanted to give him a proper scare… He wanted Kinzou to start thinking twice about messing around with him from now on. That was the only reason he hadn’t had Yamantaka knock him out already despite knowing very well how easily he could.

The question was, what would be the most effective way to scare his brother off?

“Taka…” Renzou began, thinking fast about the matter. Before he could say anything else, however— 

“What the hell is going on here?!”

For a moment, the stern voice that cut through the air almost sounded like it had come from his dad; but it was Juuzou who had shouted. His face was terrifyingly fierce as he came into view. 

“Renzou, what are you doing? Put him down!”

Renzou’s face rapidly lost color and he hastily urged Yamantaka to comply with Juuzou’s request. The demon gave an irritated growl at the interruption, but obediently dropped Kinzou, though with none of the gentleness he usually used with Renzou.

Kinzou growled, glaring up at the demon. He jumped up to his feet, and then because he clearly hadn't learned his lesson, he made a swipe towards Renzou, who having expected it, successfully managed to dodge it this time. 

"Quit it," Renzou hissed at him. The guilty feeling that had emerged with Juuzou's entrance was beginning to get buried underneath the unending frustration he felt towards Kinzou.

"Make me." Kinzou looked at him with a challenge in his eyes. He looked ready to take him on again, as if now that he knew that Renzou was willing to play dirty, he was ready to face against him anyway.

This interaction was enough to explain to Juuzou just what had led up to all of this in the first place. It did calm the initial panic he had felt in his heart when he came across them, but in its place, he was filled with an enormous bout of exasperation.

"Seriously? That's enough!" Juuzou hit both of them across the head, and while Kinzou took it with good grace, Renzou let out a small cry when Juuzou's knuckles collided against the spot Kinzou had abused before. It was still tender and the pain made his eyes water, but he bit his lip and held in any further complaints. 

Yamantaka, however, was not so gracious. He picked up Renzou again and held him out of reach of the two brothers. The demon flared angrily, his amber eyes alight with a barely contained rage. The air around them heated up to a sweltering temperature as the only thing that held Yamantaka back was his contract of obedience with Renzou.

_T-Taka?_

Renzou stared up at his familiar, blown away by the depth of the emotion that was being passed through their mental connection. Yamantaka’s protective anger wrapped around him like a second skin and Renzou couldn’t help but to be stunned into silence, awed by it.

Unable to see his little brother’s face from where he stood, Juuzou’s face became ashen in worry at this unexpected turn of events. 

“R-Renzou?!”

His hand immediately went to grab the collapsible staff he always carried with him above his lower back. He hardly knew what to make of the situation and he feared that his brother was in danger.

Beside him, Kinzou watched with narrowed eyes, not nearly as concerned, only curious. Calculative too, as if he was trying to size up the challenge in front of him.

"Is that your deal now? Gonna hide behind your big scary demon like a scaredy-cat from now on?"

"Kinzou, be quiet!" Juuzou snapped at him without taking his eyes off of their little brother. To his relief, Renzou finally peered down at them, having snapped out of his stupor due to Kinzou’s remark. The lack of fear in his expression eased Juuzou a little.

"Renzou...? Are you okay up there? Can you ask Yamantaka to set you down?"

Yamantaka bristled at the request. **_“So that you and the boy can strike him again?”_** the demon growled. **_“Do not lay another hand on Ren and we will have no further issue.”_**

"Ren?" Juuzou mouthed the word silently, his expression contorting again as his worry shot all the way back up. He had hardly expected Yamantaka to respond in Renzou's stead. Renzou, whose expression had lit up upon hearing his familiar use the nickname they’d agreed upon. The demon didn’t often have any need to use it, so he was delighted by the fact that the sound of it was just as nice to hear now as it had been the first time.

“Taka, it’s okay,” Renzou murmured, placing his hand on top of one of Yamantaka’s fingers. He felt so very appreciative and he made sure, from the bottom of his heart, to pass that feeling along. 

In a louder voice, mostly for his brother’s benefit, he said, “you can put me down for now. We do have to head back home, yanno.”

The flames that made up Yamantaka’s body calmed slightly by the reassurance, though his movements as he followed Renzou’s directions were clearly reluctant. He gave the two older Shima boys a dark, warning look before the demon shrunk down to his smaller size. Yamantaka settled on Renzou’s shoulder, the flames licking harmlessly at the fabric of his shirt.

Immediately, without even thinking of doing otherwise, Renzou went to pat his familiar with a short, affectionate touch. It was an absentminded movement that didn't go without notice, though Juuzou kept his expression from revealing what he was thinking as Renzou looked up at him.

"Kin-nii got me on the head really hard earlier, so it kinda hurt when you hit the same spot," he told him, knowing he owed him an explanation. 

"I... see," Juuzou said hesitantly. His eyes darted from Renzou's face, to top of his head, to Yamantaka's small form, and he seemed to have a hard time deciding where to focus his attention. "Sorry, I didn't know."

Renzou shrugged lightly. "That's fine, but he'll get angry if you try that again," he warned.

"Wimp." That was Kinzou's unsurprising report. 

Renzou stuck out his tongue at him. Simultaneously, Yamantaka huffed irritably, a small tuft of black flames flickering out with the movement.

 ** _‘I really will rip off his hand if he harms you again,’_** Yamantaka said, though this time it was a private message sent through his link with Renzou and accompanied by a fresh dosage of protective anger.

 _I think I’ll get in big trouble if you do that. But you can beat him up a little. That won’t be as bad,_ Renzou told him, ducking his head to hide his smile. 

**_‘Hm. Very well. I will not do anything that will get you punished.’_** Yamantaka’s anger lowered to a consistent smolder as the small mass of black flames settled into the crook of Renzou’s neck again, still glaring at the two brothers.

Juuzou eyed the demon with reproach before looking over Renzou, inspecting him for any further injuries. “Are you sure you’re okay?” 

"Hmm? Why wouldn't I be?" Renzou met Juuzou's eyes with a questioning look.

The worried wrinkles didn’t leave Juuzou’s brow as he gave his younger brother a smile. “No reason. I guess you and Yamantaka are getting along.” He put his hand on Kinzou’s head and steered him towards the direction of the house. “We’ve been keeping dad waiting long enough, though. Come on.”

"How come you showed up too, Juu-nii?" Renzou asked as the three of them walked.

"Well, I was supposed to be the one to come get you in the first place, but this idiot decided to rush out before dad finished talking. He told me to just let it be, but... I thought you two might take even longer to come back if I didn't show up."

"I would've brought him back before dinner, just like dad said!" Kinzou protested.

"I just said you didn't need to get involved with this at all in the first place!" Juuzou shot back.

 _He's so stupid_ , Renzou told Yamantaka. _I really don't understand how we're related._

 ** _‘He is a moron,’_** Yamantaka agreed. **_‘I will protect you while you enjoy your reward.’_**

The reminder of the dessert that awaited him put a bounce in Renzou's step. _Ahh, I wish you could enjoy it too! After all, you're the one that helped me get my grades up!_

It wasn't the first time that Renzou felt hit with a wave that was an equal measure of disappointment and determination. He hadn't made any progress at all in fulfilling the promise he had made to his familiar; he hadn't given up on it though.

 ** _‘You will repay me in another way. Do not concern yourself with that for now.’_** Yamantaka settled more calmly against Renzou’s neck. The demon was ever greedy for more, but for now, there was a steady contentment. **_‘I trust in our partnership. I will be patient.’_**

Yamantaka's reassurance kept Renzou in a good mood for the entirety of the walk home. The two of them continued to chat in silence, oblivious to the concerned glances Juuzou kept sneaking their way.

However, when they finally arrived home, their father’s brow wrinkled in a remarkably similar way to Juuzou’s.

“Dinner’s almost ready. Why don’t you two go and help your mother set the table?” Yaozou told Juuzou and Kinzou before bending down a bit to look at Renzou, more specifically, the black flames curled in the crook of his neck. “Why do you have Yamantaka out?” His tone was dangerously close to scolding. 

Renzou had expected the question to come up, so he was able to keep himself from squirming under the weight of that gaze, though just barely. "Kin-nii was being mean to me again, so I brought him out to protect me," he explained.

"A man of the Shima family fights with his own fists!" Kinzou shouted back at them, not quite out of the room yet.

“Kinzou,” Yaozou snapped, glaring back at him until he skittered out of the room. He turned back to face his younger son. “You don’t have to use Yamantaka against your own family, Renzou. Yamantaka is _only_ to be used against demons. You shouldn’t just have him out frivolously. What if you lose control? You’re still young.”

“Why does it matter that I’m young?” Renzou shook his head slightly. “He’s not doing anything bad. You’re the one that always tells me I should be training more.”

“Of course you should be training more, but training under supervision. Yamantaka is still a demon. If you were to lose control of him out there by yourself, he could hurt you,” Yaozou attempted to explain, but there was a hardness to his voice that was a telltale sign that he was losing patience. Yamantaka bristled and the small flames became a bit more erratic as the amber eyes narrowed at the man. 

“Taka wouldn’t hurt me,” Renzou protested. It was the first time he had ever spoken up in his defense in front of his family. There was no point in keeping their friendship a secret anymore. A part of him was glad about that. 

“Taka?” Yaozou repeated the nickname, a little startled. “I thought you told me you were scared of Yamantaka.”

“I’m not anymore. I mean, why should I be?” Renzou turned his head to look at Yamantaka. He was hardly threatening in his current size, though even his full form didn’t scare him anymore. The amber ringed eyes looked back up at him. A small smile lifted the corner of his lips. “That’d be like being scared of my own shadow.”

Yaozou frowned in silence for a long few moments. He stood up straight and crossed his arms, a thousand and one thoughts crossing his mind before he spoke again. “We’ll talk more about this later. How about you put Yamantaka away and we go eat dinner?”

The thought of the dinner that awaited him had Renzou’s eyes lightening up again. His stomach growled in hunger and the desire to run off to join the rest of his siblings thrummed under his skin, but his dad’s request made him hesitate and bite his lip. 

“Can’t I keep him out? I’m not tired at all yet. I can still keep him out for a couple of more hours!” he said in his most reassuring voice.

“While you eat?” Yaozou’s frown creased further. “No, there shouldn’t be any demons at the table, Renzou.”

“Why not?” Renzou stared up at his father intently. “It’s a family dinner, right? And he’s been in the family for ages. Plus, he’s not gonna bother anyone. He’ll be right with me.”

“No, even the Houjou’s don’t bring their snakes to the dinner table. It’s not polite.” Yaozou’s voice was firm, unmoving.

Typically, Renzou would falter under that tone of voice. But this time, he just couldn't find it in himself to hold back. He didn't understand why his dad was making such a big deal about this. What wasn't 'polite' about having Yamantaka out? 

"Are you sure they don't? Maybe they do it when they're just eating just between themselves!" 

“I am absolutely sure they do not. Don’t argue with me about this, Renzou,” Yaozou sighed, rubbing his temples. “Enough is enough.”

 ** _‘I will go,’_** Yamantaka said, though the words in Renzou’s mind were accompanied by a small rush of annoyance. 

Renzou turned to look at Yamantaka at once, with an expression of protest. _But...!_

 ** _‘I will not do anything that will get you punished.’_** Yamantaka repeated the words he had told Renzou barely ten minutes before. **_‘I will go.’_** With one last glare shot at Yaozou, the demon disappeared with a hiss.

“There we are. That wasn’t so hard,” Yaozou nodded, merely assuming that Renzou had sent Yamantaka away. “Now come on. Dinner.”

Renzou followed his dad to the dinner table in silence, his heart filled to the brim with a mix of emotions. On one hand, the usual frustration he felt towards his family not listening to him had his fingers twitching as he struggled not to curl his hands into tight fists. On the other hand, Yamantaka's consideration of him made him feel warm. 

_I promise to let you out again later_ , Renzou told his familiar. _I'm sorry my dad didn't listen._

**_‘Do not apologize for the actions of your father. You have done nothing to warrant an apology to me. Enjoy your reward. We can do more things once you are done.’_ **

_Yeah, you’re right_. Renzou nodded softly. He wished Yamantaka was still out so he could run his fingers through the comforting heat of his flame. _We’ll do something fun. Maybe sneak out tonight!_ That was something they hadn’t done yet. It would be nice to get somewhere high up and stare at the stars. A familiar anticipation rushed through their link at the thought.

**_‘I would like that.’_ **

_Me too._

Thinking about their future outing brought Renzou’s mood back up again, though he would have felt even better if his dad had allowed him to keep Yamantaka out like he wanted to. 

For today, he wasn't going to argue about it anymore, not wanting to risk angering him and losing out on eating his promised dessert. But he wasn’t ready to let it go. He didn’t like the way his family dismissed Yamantaka solely as a weapon when he was so much more than that.

He hoped his dad would come to understand that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed!! We'll be hitting a time skip in the next chapter and moving the plot along! See you again on March 3rd ♥


	6. Chapter 6

_Ha, just like always. Kin-nii left his wallet behind. What an idiot._

Renzou had been sharing a room with all of his brothers for as long as he could remember. There was very little privacy, so for the most part, they all either tried to spend their free time outside of it, or they hogged the room to themselves when nobody else was around and prayed it remained otherwise unoccupied for as long as possible. 

Renzou usually didn’t mind so much because he preferred spending his time outside with Yamantaka or with his other friends, but there were other drawbacks to sharing a room with his brothers, such as the fact that Kinzou’s side of the room was always a mess. Renzou couldn’t exactly _complain_ about it himself because he wasn’t great with tidying up either, but it had started to annoy him more recently because of all the crumbled papers that kept piling up whenever Kinzou was working on new music lyrics for his band. 

That was another thing. Even sleeping at night had become a challenge recently. As if the snoring wasn’t bad enough on a regular day, Kinzou kept staying up late listening to music now, sometimes singing loudly along to it despite the fact that Juuzou and Renzou were trying to fall asleep. They had started to make a habit of stealing Gouzou’s pillows when they went to bed so they could throw them at him from their beds. It was one of the benefits of having him move out of the house, though Renzou did miss him a little. 

One of the perks of sharing a room with his brothers, however, was the fact that they couldn’t really hide much from each other. It wasn’t as much of a drawback for Renzou, who knew better than to leave things that were important to him lying around. Rather, because his brothers were a lot more careless than him, Renzou was all too aware of the love letters Juuzou received at school that were stored safely in a box at the top of their closet, of the porn magazines Kinzou hid under his mattress, and of the pamphlets Gouzou had been hiding for months before announcing his plans to travel out of the country. 

Most importantly, Renzou knew exactly where Kinzou liked to keep his wallet and he had made it a habit to routinely sneak some money out of it for years now. His brother was so stupid that he hadn’t once suspected anything odd about it. Instead, whenever it felt a little too light, he said things like, “I guess I must’ve bought more snacks than I thought the other day,” and simply wrote it off with a laugh.

 _Well, this should be enough to get us plenty of snacks to sneak into the theater,_ Renzou told Yamantaka with a mischievous grin.

 ** _‘It seems so. What movie will we be watching?’_** The demon’s flames clung to Renzou’s upper arm, the amber eyes watching him handle the money.

Now that Renzou was older, the forest wasn’t always the only destination. Heading out into the city was a more common occurrence as there were many things to entertain them both. Snacks or clothes shopping for Renzou, and a demon hiding in a dark alley for Yamantaka. Even then, his familiar also somewhat enjoyed the theater, finding the dramatics on screen curious and often needing to question Renzou when he was too confused about certain human motivations.

Either way, neither of them were ever alone.

 _There's a really cool action movie that came out. Everyone was talking about it at school, remember? The main actress is pretty cute too, so it oughta be good._ Renzou stuffed the money he'd appropriated into his own wallet before leaving Kinzou's right where he had found it—on the floor, behind one of the legs of the bed, where the bedcovers were messily dangling off the edge, hiding it out of view.

 ** _‘I remember.’_** The black flames travelled up Renzou’s arm to his shoulder. Yamantaka settled down, the warmth of his body seeping comfortably through his shirt and into his skin. **_‘What makes the actress cute?’_**

 _Hmm, her face, I guess?_ She was one of those generically popular actresses that everyone loved. In particular, everyone that he heard talking about this movie said the action scenes she was involved in got their hearts racing due to how cool she had looked. 

**_‘Her face…’_** Yamantaka repeated the answer quite seriously and Renzou could feel the demon’s resolve to try and understand. **_‘Are you considered cute?’_**

_Ah?? I guess? I mean, I hope? I’m pretty sure._

At fifteen years old, Renzou had had his share of admirers, though not nearly as many as Ryuuji. The first time a girl had confessed to him, he’d been elated. To think that anyone would hold him in that type of regard… It was a nice feeling. The confession had come from a quiet girl who sat a few seats behind him in class. He didn’t really know her, but she was pretty enough, and he’d been so surprised about the whole thing that he automatically said yes and scheduled their first date without even realizing it.

They went out together a total of three times before Renzou had to politely, painfully, break it off. He was lucky she didn’t give him so much of a hard time about it, but he still felt really bad about it. It wasn’t as if he disliked her but… she just wasn’t all that interesting. He didn’t know what to talk to her about. And after making it a habit of having Yamantaka out with him all the time, of talking to him in Ryuuji and Konekomaru’s presence who were familiar with him and who interacted with him just as easily, it was weird to hang out with someone who couldn’t sense the demon, who wouldn’t understand why Renzou fell silent sometimes. It wasn’t as if he could simply explain either, so he cut it off early before it became too complicated.

After that, he knew better than to thoughtlessly get himself in that type of situation again, but he still enjoyed the flattering rush he felt when he found love letters in his shoe cubicle.

 _I’m not sure I can answer that, like, objectively, yanno. Everyone has their own likes and dislikes, so it’s hard to define attraction_ , was what Renzou eventually told Yamantaka.

**_‘So being cute is based on attraction. Then you are attracted to that actress?’_ **

_Sure? I mean, who wouldn't be, right?_ There was a contradiction in Renzou's statement that didn't align with his previous answer. _She's really popular. I bet she's done modeling gigs too. She's pretty enough that people would go crazy if she ended up doing more risque work too. I wonder if she has…_

The benefit of having a smartphone was that it was easy to look up this sort of thing online.

 _Ah, see. I knew it._ Of course, the thumbnail of the calendar he found in an auction website was censored, but it was sufficient enough for him to prove his point. 

Yamantaka flickered down to Renzou’s wrist before holding still like a candle flame as he regarded the phone screen. 

**_‘I don’t understand. How is this attractive? She looks too fragile.’_** Yamantaka’s genuine confusion could easily be felt as he looked up at Renzou. It made the fifteen-year-old laugh. 

_Some people just like that kind of thing, yanno. It makes them want to protect them, which makes them feel good about themselves. Or sometimes they just wanna feel powerful._

**_‘I see. Then you are cute.’_** The small demon nodded as he returned to his spot in the crook of Renzou’s neck.

 _W-What?_ The unexpected declaration had Renzou's cheeks heating up at once. He fumbled for words for a moment, completely flustered. _How'd you come to that conclusion?!_

 ** _‘You make me feel powerful and I wish to protect you. According to your logic, you are cute and I am attracted to you.’_** Yamantaka spoke simply, as if he was explaining something that should have been obvious.

_Ah, no wait, there's—I didn't explain properly! But I'm not sure how to explain it. You can't, I mean, I guess you could, but, no, you seriously can't, that's not how—_

Renzou's entire face became beet-red and he became even more embarrassed due to the fact that this was happening in public. The bus he'd boarded, thankfully, didn't have a lot of commuters, so after scurrying off to grab a seat in the back, he safely curled into himself and buried his face within his hands.

Misunderstandings between their worlds weren't uncommon. Renzou thought he had gotten a handle on explaining things to the demon after all these years, but somehow, he had been really caught off guard by the depth of this particular misunderstanding.

It was difficult to not be flustered, especially given how genuine Yamantaka had been with his words. He always was. 

_Look_ , Renzou tried again, _you can't just say things like that._

 ** _‘Why not? Did I say something wrong?’_** He could feel the demon’s heat moving to the front of his covered face. He almost felt the amber ringed eyes on him as Yamantaka’s confusion resurfaced in their link.

For some reason, he couldn't find himself to meet those eyes right now.

_B-Because... you just can't. Just forget about it, okay?_

A part of Renzou began to wonder why he was so bothered, but it felt impossible to explain it to himself, much less to Yamantaka. It was just such an outrageous concept, an implausible one.

_Maybe if—_

_Nope, nope_ , he told himself firmly, feeling the heat on his face continue to rise up, this time to the tip of his ears. _Stop right there. Right now._

But even though he lectured himself with a steadfast heart, the topic didn't quite die down in his mind, just merely latched on to a different one as he was reminded of a much older conversation.

 _I still haven't made any progress on fulfilling my promise..._ Renzou's pulled his face back slightly, resting his fingers on the bridge of his nose. He stared at the back of the seat in front of him with a downcast expression. After all these years, he had barely made a dent in figuring out in how to help his best friend. He searched the old temple grounds up and down, snuck into his dad's study, but much to his frustration, there was a lack of information about how to strengthen their connection, about how to allow Yamantaka to experience the world in the same way Renzou did. There were times when the feeling of hopelessness hit him so hard that he sulked about it in bed for days. He was especially irritated about the fact that he couldn't just ask his dad directly. After all this time, Renzou still had to pretend around his dad that Yamantaka was just a tool rather than his friend. Thankfully, those moments were brief, but it soured any praise his dad gave him whenever they had a successful training session together.

_At least I won't have to deal with that anymore..._

In a few more weeks, Renzou would finally be leaving home to go to school in Tokyo, at True Cross Academy. The boarding school also doubled as an exorcist training school, so Renzou hoped that the resources they held yielded better results than what he had had so far.

 ** _‘It will be different, but enjoyable, to be away from your family,’_** Yamantaka remarked as the mass of black flames nuzzled against Renzou’s cheek before settling against his neck again. **_‘You will still not have your own room, but being with Bon and Koneko-san will be an improvement to Kinzou.’_** Yamantaka sighed. As usual, the demon didn’t comment on the progress of Renzou’s promise to him. 

_Anything's an improvement to him. I'm pretty sure I'll end up rooming with Koneko-san, but even if I do end up with Bon, well, he's only slightly worse than Juu-nii. I'll survive. Even though he's such a busybody..._ Renzou rolled his eyes, though it was with a good-natured smile. Ryuuji was annoyingly uptight, but he was a good friend. The way he and Konekomaru had accepted Yamantaka and understood Renzou’s desire to sometimes be by himself made him appreciate them more than anyone else in his family. 

**_‘It will make skipping and sneaking more difficult,’_** Yamantaka admitted. **_‘But I’m sure you can handle it quite easily. We will surely find more excuses to use. However, I do not anticipate us being able to cheat in cram school.’_**

 _You think?_ Renzou scrunched up his nose at the thought of actually having to study. In general, he really didn’t bother to. At most, he ended up picking up a few things from conversations he had with Yamantaka, or if the subject was interesting enough, the details tended to stick even if he only glanced at the material during class or when he was taking the corresponding exams. _I wonder what type of classes I’ll have… I guess I oughta ask Juu-nii about it._

 ** _‘Yes. Unlike your normal school, the cram school will surely be full of exorcists who can see me. I will still aid you in your studies, but I do not want you to be punished.’_** The bus squeaked to a halt and Yamantaka looked out the window. 

_I guess that’s a good point,_ Renzou thought, following his gaze. It was their stop. _But I’m the only one who can hear you, so I think we’ll be able to manage._

With a bit of a hop to his step, Renzou exited out of the bus with a sense of excitement bubbling beneath his skin. The conversation that had flustered him earlier had been neatly tucked away, and he was just as ready to put the thoughts of school to rest as well.

_Anyway, we can worry about that some more later. For now, let’s get some snacks!_

The walk to the convenience store was mostly filled with talk about which snacks Renzou wanted to purchase. _It's seriously so hot today. Definitely gonna get the coldest bottle of soda they've got in the freezer. Some ice cream bites would be nice too…_

 ** _‘Would you prefer that I not rest here?’_** Yamantaka was aware of his own heat, as well as his favorite spot to rest on Renzou’s body. He knew his warmth was more than welcome in the winter months, but the summer was different. Over the years, there had been days where Renzou simply couldn’t stand it and Yamantaka had to find a different spot to rest.

 _Nah, I can bear it for a bit longer. It's not so bad when we're indoors, just when we're outside._ Renzou reached up to give Yamantaka a reassuring, affectionate touch, which he easily disguised afterwards to look as if he had merely gone to scratch the back of his head. The flames had arched upwards when his fingers were in range, eager for the sensation. He settled back down once his hand was gone.

 ** _‘Very well. What ice cream will you get?’_** Yamantaka’s curiosity of how many different flavors of ice cream existed was a constant. As was Renzou's, really. He enjoyed trying new things all the time, especially at the expense of his brother’s pocket money. He knew it was a mental thing, but somehow, things tasted just a little bit better when he was doing something he knew he wasn’t supposed to do.

_Hmm, let’s see…_

Renzou let out a pleased little noise when he arrived at the convenience store. The way the air conditioner blew right into his face as he walked through the front doors had him smiling with relief. He picked a basket on his way in and headed straight to the freezer section. The ice cream selection was as vast as usual. Renzou's eyes wandered past plain old vanilla, the banana bread pudding he liked to indulge in on occasion, the green tea and red bean mix that was always his favorite, and settled on a blackberry chocolate swirl container that said limited edition. _Aha..._

 ** _‘Is that one good?’_** Yamantaka asked, his flame dancing just a bit more actively under the cool moving air.

 _We’re about to see, but I’m betting on yes. And you know I can’t resist anything that says limited edition,_ Renzou pointed out with a hidden grin. He retrieved the ice cream from the freezer and then went to hunt down the fridge that had the soda on display. Despite the fact that the convenience store’s air conditioner was working perfectly well, he indulged a little longer than he needed to by sticking his face close to the cool air emanating from the fridge. Before he headed to the register, he made sure to grab a couple of packs of his favorite chips and a box of pocky as well. _That oughta be enough._

Yamantaka wordlessly agreed with the sentiment, though Renzou had a sneaking suspicion that his familiar didn’t really understand what was “enough” when it came to snacks. He figured his friend was simply agreeing with him to agree.

After his purchases had been rung up, Renzou regretfully exited back out of the store and endured the hot sun as he made his way to the theater. The items he had bought were swiftly stuffed into the dufflebag he'd brought along with him, and it was only the fact that he had a very short trip ahead of him that kept him from pressing the cold bottle of soda right against his face for a bit of reprieve. 

**_‘Why don’t you?’_** Yamantaka asked without prompt.

 _I'll get weird looks, yanno_ , Renzou replied back with some amusement.

**_‘What will they do besides look? You will get relief and they will do nothing.’_ **

_It's fine, Taka,_ Renzou said, smiling. He was always appreciative of Yamantaka’s straightforward suggestions, even when he didn’t follow them. _Plus, I'm gonna have to put it away before we get to the theater anyway, otherwise I won't be able to bring it in._

 ** _‘Hm.’_** Yamantaka made that disgruntled noise he usually made when he didn’t quite understand but wasn’t willing to pursue further.

“Hey.”

 _Don’t pout,_ Renzou replied with a smirk before feeling a hand tap his back. He turned and came face to face with a woman. There was no doubt she was older than him and she had a stern sort of expression that made Renzou’s eyes trace her features with more focus than he would most others. 

She adjusted her glasses and glanced down at Renzou’s shoulder—no, at who was on Renzou’s shoulder.

“Is that your familiar?” she asked, shifting her bag.

The unexpected question had Renzou’s eyebrows shooting high up on his forehead at once. “You can see him?” He was so taken aback that he did not even consider pretending he didn't know what she was talking about.

“Yes,” she said, though her expression didn’t twitch much besides a slight raise of her eyebrow. “I’ve never seen a demon like that before.”

Yamantaka, who was not used to being seen by strangers, bristled slightly under the woman’s stare. He stared back at her, unwilling to remove his gaze for any reason.

"Uhh..." Wanting to quell his familiar, as well as school his own surprise, Renzou reached up to caress the flames resting at his neck in a routine motion. 

"I take it you see a lot of demons?" he asked politely, giving her a quick scan, wondering if she was an exorcist or someone like that. He didn't spot the familiar pin that the members of his family all wore on their uniforms, but then again, she was wearing casual clothing.

“I work with a few. We have a good relationship.” Her eyes found their way back up to Renzou’s face and he recognized the searching gaze that was remarkably like his own. “You seem like you have a good relationship with your familiar as well.”

"I can't complain," Renzou answered in a non-committal tone, even though he was telling the truth. He felt a little out of balance by this unusual conversation. He wasn't sure what to make of it. As he was prone to, Renzou decided to just roll with the situation with a smile on his face. 

"Say, not to be rude, but did you need something from me? I was on my way to the movies just now, but I don't mind sticking around with a cute girl like yourself. What did you say your name was?"

“Cute, huh?” Her lips twitched in a shadow of a smirk that was gone before he blinked and Renzou’s heart did a little dance. He wasn’t entirely sure what the dance meant, if it was nerves or something else. “Homare. There’s a cafe nearby. I’d like to talk to you a bit more and I’ll pay for your food as compensation.”

 _She's... really forward_ , Renzou couldn't help but to think. He wasn't used to girls being that forward. He wondered if that came with age. He couldn't quite tell how many more years she had on him, but if he had to guess, she was probably close to Gouzou's age. 

"Do you offer to buy lunch for just any random stranger you meet?" he asked with a slight laugh. "I'm Shima, by the way. Shima Renzou. And this here is Yamantaka."

“Hm. Just the ones I’m interested in,” Homare replied before she turned around and walked the opposite way down the sidewalk.

 ** _‘Ren,’_** Yamantaka spoke lowly through their connection. **_‘If you feel as though you are in danger, I will protect you.’_**

 _Yeah._ Renzou felt comfortable following Homare because of that. She didn't seem dangerous... just strange. She barely batted an eye at his introduction, which stood at odds with her supposed interest in him. Somehow, that made him even more intrigued by her and what she wanted to talk to him about, but it was good to be a little cautious. _I'm counting on you. But I think it should be fine to follow her for now. What do you think she wants?_

 ** _‘I do not know,’_** Yamantaka responded and Renzou could tell that fact was exactly why he felt the nervous protectiveness coming in waves from his familiar. 

_Hmm, well, she's taking us to a public place so, she's probably not gonna knock me out and kidnap me or something like that,_ he thought rationally, biting back a smile at the idea. 

**_‘That assumption appears sound.’_** Renzou felt Yamantaka relax a bit more in response as they followed Homare into a cafe. 

It was a little place, one that was crammed tightly into the small building, everything from the counter to the chairs and tables perfectly arranged to use the space as efficiently as possible. There were a few people present. A couple was talking over coffee and a half eaten muffin that had been cut into easy to share pieces. There was a college student with headphones on and his nose buried in a textbook with a single cup of tea and the cup of a finished parfait sitting nearby. 

Homare led the way to a table towards the back of the cafe and gestured for Renzou to take a seat. “Drink preference?” she asked, placing down her bag. “And would Yamantaka like anything either?”

The second question caught Renzou off guard again, but in a good way. “Ah, that caramel drink looks good, the third one on the list,” he said after a quick look at the digital display behind the register. “Nothing for him… but thanks for asking,” he continued with a smile that was truly genuine, and unconsciously, his fingers rose again to caress his familiar’s flames. 

Homare nodded and approached the register to place the order.

 ** _‘Why did she do that?’_** Yamantaka’s confusion surfaced through the link as he leaned against Renzou’s hand.

 _Dunno. Just being polite I guess._ Renzou stared at Homare's back. Somehow, it didn't feel like that was the case. The question had come so naturally, as if she was used to considering that sort of thing. She... had said she worked with demons, hadn't she?

 ** _‘Polite…’_** Yamantaka repeated, unsure of what to make of the answer. 

It didn’t take long for Homare to return. She sat down at the table across from Renzou and placed her bag down beside her. 

“They’ll be bringing the drinks over in a moment. Have you ever been to this place?” she asked. “It’s a little niche, but I come here often. The cafe owner is an acquaintance of mine and they’re very demon friendly.”

As she spoke, the woman behind the register walked out with a plate of what looked like a dark, semi-burnt pastry and placed it next to the college student without disturbing him. She went back behind the counter to begin preparing their drinks. As soon as she did, Renzou spotted a bit of movement in the back of the student’s shirt. 

A small, red lizard-like face popped out of the back of the student’s collar, peeked around, and a reptile that was glowing a heated red quickly clambered down the student’s arm towards the plate. The salamander hiccupped a little puff of fire, further burning the pastry, before biting into it. Without looking away from his book, the student ran a couple fingers down the demon’s back in an absentminded pet. Renzou’s mouth fell open. 

“I… I didn’t realize…” He shook his head and looked back at Homare with a furrowed brow. “I didn’t know there were places that were… demon friendly.” He paused as he contemplated the words he had just repeated. As much as he hated to acknowledge it, his dad had been telling the truth, all those years ago. The Houjou’s didn’t spend any more time than they needed with their snake summons. None of the Tamers in the Kyoto branch interacted with their familiars as casually as Renzou did with Yamantaka. Everyone around him always treated all demons as either enemies to destroy or tools to use. He didn’t think he would ever see the type of amicable, friendly exchange he had just witnessed. It was a welcome breath of fresh air.

"Who are you?" Renzou asked, feeling like the rug had been pulled out from under his feet. This time, he didn't mean her name. "Why did you ask me to come here with you?"

“I work for an organization whose purpose is to change the world and create equality between humans and demons.” Homare leaned down and reached into her bag. She pulled out a small business card and offered it to Renzou.

Written on the stark white card in golden letters was the word _Illuminati_ along with a couple phone numbers.

“We want to find like-minded people to help us achieve our goals,” Homare continued, her stern lips turning down into a frown. “The way demons are treated by the True Cross Order and other world-wide organizations isn’t right. Demons have been shown to have sentience, consciousness, desires. Like us. Why should they be used like weapons or hunted like animals when no one has even attempted to find peace? When I saw you with Yamantaka, I was reminded of the kind of world we want to create.”

 _Is that kind of thing possible?_ The thought echoed in Renzou's head as he stared at the card he had accepted with numb fingers. 

This was everything he had ever wanted. It was almost too good to be true. 

"I've never heard of you guys before... What do you do exactly? How are you hoping to change everyone’s minds, just like that? I mean, I'm all for it, but—" Prior to today, he had thought he was alone. In a world full of prejudice against demons, Renzou and Yamantaka had stood together, with only each other to hold on to. 

“It won’t be easy and it won’t happen overnight,” Homare said with a nod. “In fact, most of us have been working in this organization for over a decade doing research and fighting to save demons and humans alike. We want to find ways for demons to be able to live peacefully in Assiah beside us, experiencing the world painlessly and permanently, with no worry. It’s been difficult, but these years, we’re closer than we’ve ever been before. Every member is passionate and dedicated wholly to this cause. This is our life’s work.”

The woman behind the counter walked up to their table and quietly set down the drinks before quickly leaving them again. Homare picked up her cup of black coffee and sipped it. 

“Because it’s so important, I can only tell you so much, but I want to offer you a job. If you take it, I’d be free to tell you everything you want to know.”

"A job..." Renzou's heart quickened at the offer. "What kind of job? I'm..." He wanted so badly to say yes, even though he didn't know the details of what doing so entailed yet. Everything he'd heard so far supported thoughts he had been harboring for years. And perhaps, maybe, finally, this would be the way for him to fulfill the promise he had once made to Yamantaka. It had to be. "I'm interested," he replied, leaning forward on the table with an intent expression, ignoring the drink that had been ordered for him. "I'm really, really interested, but I'll be in Tokyo as of next month. Is that gonna cause a problem?" 

Homare’s eyebrows raised. “Next month. Are you going to high school in Tokyo?”

“Yeah.” Renzou frowned. He'd been looking forward to being away from home, but now... "To True Cross Academy actually. I'm enrolled in their exorcist course, though not exactly by choice." He fiddled with the card, turning it over in his fingers as he slowly sat back on his chair again. "It's a family thing," he explained with a sigh. "If I could skip out on it, I would, but I'm pretty sure my dad'll drag me in by the neck himself if I even mention turning down the offer."

“Actually, that’s perfect. Go.” Something about Homare’s gaze intensified. “You see, because of what we want to achieve, the True Cross Order wants to stop us. Without demons to kill, they’d be out of business. We’re not very well liked or tolerated by the Order and though we’re a big organization, theirs is much bigger. We’re at a disadvantage.”

"How'd me going help at all then?" Renzou's eyebrows knitted together. 

“I can’t tell you the details right now. Like I said, there are people who want us stopped. I have to protect the organization. So if you want to know the details, you’ll have to accept the job.” Homare looked between Renzou and Yamantaka before drinking more of her coffee. “If you want time to think about it, that’s fine, but you might be exactly the person we’re looking for. Exactly the person we need.”

The temptation to accept the job on the spot thrummed beneath his skin, but there was a part of him that still thought this was nothing more than a feverish dream.

Was that ideal world he'd always longed for really a possibility?

_What do you think, Taka? Should we do it?_

For a long moment, there was no response. Renzou felt the same type of hesitance that was lingering around his heart be echoed by his familiar. It was a lot to take in.

Finally, Yamantaka answered. 

**_'I don't know, but wherever you go, I will be with you.'_ **

Of course. That steadfast support helped Renzou feel more at ease, as always. He wouldn't have it any other way. 

"...I think I already know my answer. But give me a couple of days." Renzou offered Homare an keen smile that displayed his interest. "I really appreciate you stopping me to fill me in on all of this. And for the coffee, of course," he added, finally picking up his drink. 

Homare nodded as if she expected the answer. “Take as much time as you need. Though it’ll be easier to talk to you before you get to True Cross.” She picked up her coffee and bag before standing up. “If you can’t reach me on the first phone number, call the second one and leave a voicemail. I’ll call you right back, okay?”

"Got it. Will do." Renzou gave Homare an affirming nod in return, followed by a small wave as he watched her depart. His eyes lingered on her until she was through the door and fully out of his sight. After, he slowly took another look at the remaining patrons of the demon friendly cafe he had been introduced to. 

The student’s salamander was tearing into the last few bites of the pastry, now nearly charred to a crisp. After it had finished, it climbed across the student’s arms, pausing to rub itself affectionately against his elbow, before wrapping around the base of the coffee cup. Finally, the student’s eyes shifted from his book, sparing the salamander a fond smile and a whispered thanks.

Renzou looked towards the couple, wondering if they had demons too, when he saw the woman laugh and put her pointed teeth on full display. It was that realization that made Renzou pick out a couple other details, how there was a twitch of a tail hidden underneath her dress, how her eyes were a bright, inhuman green, and how her hair shifted subtly as if it had a mind of its own. The man that was with her continued chatting and they enjoyed each other’s company as if nothing was different.

 _Whoa…_ Renzou thought. The word echoed in his mind with a quiet sort of awe and he wasn’t able to tear his eyes away. The more he watched the couple, the more he was filled with a yearning that struck his heart viscerally. He pictured it vividly then—he imagined himself in their shoes, imagined sharing a cup of coffee with Yamantaka, imagined watching him enjoy the rich, tart flavor of the plums Renzou had wanted for so long to have him try alongside him. 

He was still thinking about it as he made his way to the theater. He was still thinking about it as the movie he'd been looking forward to watching played in front of him while his gaze remained unfocused and absentminded. The snacks he'd bought earlier remained untouched, ignored, (and melted into a mess he'd have to clean up later) as Renzou ran his fingers through Yamantaka's flames over and over.

There was no reason for him to say no. The thought of Yamantaka being able to experience the world Renzou lived in just as he did thrummed beneath his skin, an undercurrent of incredulous excitement, of hope.

And when he spotted Ryuuji and Konekomaru later, that excitement almost burst out of him. He only barely managed to contain it. 

"Oh, hey. There you are. What have you two been up to?" Ryuuji asked as Renzou settled down beside them on the grass. 

The sun was about to set, so sometimes they liked to sit and watch as the pink and purple hues of the sky faded into black.

"Just went to a movie. The one everyone's been talking about at school."

"Oh? How was that?" Konekomaru asked with a mildly interested hum.

Renzou couldn't even ask Yamantaka to help him answer that one this time. Neither of them had paid much attention to it.

"It was good," he said. "You guys should come with us next. I'm down to see it again. What did you guys do today?" 

"Studying." Ryuuji's answer was prompt and unsurprising.

"Ah, same here," Konekomaru said in the way that Renzou knew immediately that it was a lie. It was Sunday, so more likely he had spent most of his afternoon visiting that old lady that lived nearby. Renzou had caught him sneaking off there once and had bit back a laugh at the sight of his friend being rushed at by at least a dozen cats. It seemed to be a frequent routine of his but one he liked to keep secret.

"You guys are so boring. You should be enjoying the last bit of freedom we still have before we gotta get to school!" Renzou exclaimed, despite knowing exactly what type of response he'd get in return.

Predictably, Ryuuji let out a huff and turned his head to glare at him. "We're not heading off to True Cross to mess around here. I'm not gonna waste a single moment I can be using to become stronger instead!"

The conviction in his voice was as firm as ever and it served to remind Renzou exactly why Ryuuji was training to grow so strong. It was to defeat Satan... A path he'd chosen to restore the Myou Dha’s reputation and one that would lead him down the same warpath that continued to put demons and humans at opposing ends. 

It wasn’t as if he didn't understand where his friend was coming from, but...

There was a better way. They just didn't know it yet. But surely if became aware of it, his friends who had accepted Yamantaka easily and treated him as part of their group would take it, right?

"You know, now that we're heading to True Cross, I’ve been thinking... Do you think it’s possible for demons and humans to get along some day?" He posed the question as if it was just something that had just recently occurred to him, as if the answer to it didn't hold much weight. As if his own opinion hadn't settled on the matter yet.

"No way," Ryuuji answered right away.

Konekomaru let out an agreeing hum. “They’re too dangerous.” 

"But—" Renzou's breath stuttered. He continued on in a voice that was carefully steady. "Taka is nice," he said. "We get along with him just fine."

"He’s an exception though." It was Konekomaru's head that turned this time. His brow was furrowed as if he didn't understand where this was coming from all of the sudden. He gave Renzou a bemused smile as he tried to figure out if he was really being serious. "Plus he’s, you know… your familiar.” The stark finality of the black and white worldview coming from his closest friends, coming from the mouth of the nicest one of them all, was a blow to his heart that Renzou had not been expecting. 

Disappointment dropped down to the pit of his stomach as heavy as if he had swallowed down a large stone. Renzou smiled back at his friends, showing none of it, and laughed off the topic with more effort than he would ever admit.

"Yeah... I guess you're right. It's crazy, isn't it...?"

Even as he said that, he felt Yamantaka press closer against him and, as they often did, their feelings aligned. The demon was just as disappointed and now he could feel his familiar’s desire as strong as his.

Renzou didn't wait more than one night. The next morning, before the sun had fully come out, Renzou snuck out of his house in a practiced manner, the card Homare had given him firm between his fingers.

His friends might not understand now. That was fine. They would later, one day.

The world was due for a change, and it was time to do his part to change it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops! Sorry for the delay. We have been completely caught up in the yukishima phantom thief au we've been writing recently and lost track of time! But we have not fully forgotten about these two, not to worry!!
> 
> Next update is on St. Patrick's day! See you and the 17th and we hope you enjoyed this chapter!


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